The Sound and the Furyan II
by Madame Hardy
Summary: Back in the saddle again! Thank you for all ur kind encouragement.... onto the naughtiness and mayhem!
1. A sad day in the Riddick House

**The Sound and The furyan II**

**Dedicated to Rose, Kendra, Sita, Gymp, ???, PSL and all those who couldn't stand the wait.**

**The Saga Continues….**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Riddick, cause if I did, well you know me, as a Jack, I'd be in like Flynn**…

* * *

Talos 4: 

The storm clouds, swirling angrily in the sky, threatened to douse the beach with a cold penetrative rain. The temperature, dropping several degrees since she sat down on the cold stone wall, left her wondering how hard it would rain once the clouds could hold no more moisture.

Inhaling deeply, she ran her fingers through her newly cropped black hair enjoying the cooling breeze as it caressed her skin and calmed the animal inside her. She removed her shades and blinked allowing the salty spray to soothe her tired irritated eyes and listened to the sounds of the sea.

Booming peels of thunder crackled in the distance as a darkened figure crept silently towards her carrying something glinting in the deepening sky.

She scrunched up her nose and rolled her eyes disapprovingly as she scoffed at the attempt at stealth. "You should know better than that Layne."

The tall figure dressed in black stopped dead in his tracks and began to laugh, a deep low chuckle that caused her to smile. "Had to try little sister."

She rolled her eyes and shook her head as she held her sunglasses in her hand, "I may be blind, but my other senses work just fine."

Wrinkling her nose he said with a lopsided grin, "Apparently."

"You need a shower. Did you just get back from Baba Salim's?"

"Yes." He answered coming up to sit beside her. He watched as her sightless gray eyes stared out into the surf.

Next to her beside her mechanic's boots and socks was a collapsible white cane and when he sat she was playing with the hem of her shirt. "Did you want something Layne?"

"Just wondering if you're OK." He told her plainly. It was a bad day all around for everyone and she was always the most affected by the ominous anniversary. He scooted towards her, his broad shoulders nearly as big as her father's and his face as gentle and loving as their mother's. She inhaled again and let deep vibrations his voice caused in her eardrums to calm her.

Inside she was a torrent of rage. She wanted nothing more than to explode. Hate and fear ran through her bloodstream and she hated those feelings more than anything except what she got from everyone else that day, pity.

"I'm okay." She said sighing sadly. "It happened a long time ago. You can't change the past."

He placed his hand on hers and sighed as well both looking into the surf trying to cope with the loss…

_The school bell rang as Rafe and her sister Yasmine were standing in their uniforms waiting to go to science lab. Among the fifteen other students Yasmine was always the center of attention. Even at nine she was beautiful. Looking nothing like her sister Raphaella, she had the eyes of all the others and captivated them with her laugh and outgoing personality. _

_Rafe, stood in line, her long black hair braided down her back, her backpack perched on her right arm while her twin laughed at a joke one of her friends had made._

_Letting her mind drift, Rafe felt a sudden change in the air, something wasn't right. She looked up just in time to see a dozen armed guards come running down the hallway pulse weapons at the ready._

"_Up against the fucken wall." A deep voiced man said shooting both teachers and four students in the hallway running towards her and her sister._

_She couldn't stop staring. She remembered the way he moved his head, the smell of his body and the sound of his voice. His arms had tattoos on them and she memorized every detail, just like her father had taught her to do. _

"_Get down." she said grabbing her sister by the hand. _

_Students began running which Rafe knew from the daily lessons with her father, was a big mistake. Stay down when the dying starts Rafe, you'll live longer kid. He had told her… The gunman who had frightened her so much looked at her for a second and smiled, a smug knowing smile and she vowed if she lived he would feel the shiv she'd make deep in his back. _

_His gun went up and shot towards them and her eyes instinctively closed as she pulled Yasmine towards her and grimaced when she felt the sudden wetness and smelled blood._

"_NO!" she choked but no sound came out. She gasped realizing the worst. Terrified she felt the hand in hers go limp and her heart began to pound knowing her sister had gotten hit. When she opened her eyes she saw Yasmine slumped against the wall…._

_Rafe's throat burned as the tears threatened to fall. Her eyes continued to stare into the murderer's as he blew her a kiss. She was covered in sticky blood and her hands fisted at her sides gave him a terrifying picture. "What are you looking at?" he growled staring back at her._

_A dead man. She contended silently._

"_Find the Riddick girls. They're worth more to me alive." He shouted looking at the other students. He had no idea he just killed half his payday._

_Her face never forgot how his eyes darted towards the dead girls then through the crowd scanning it for his payday or the horror when an hour later after no one gave her up, the explosions by the security forces through the large windows behind him._

_Speaking in Arabic, Rafe heard the gunmen harried and disorganized, frantic to find them. Then, as she sat huddled near the window against the body of her dead sister, praying for rescue, she looked up just in time to see a large flash grenade explode just over her head. _

_Windows above her blew apart and the last image she saw before the brilliant light and the pain in her head was the leader fleeing through a side door._

"Stop blaming yourself for not being there." She told her brother when she sensed his hand tensing in hers as he looked at her. He had been at home nursing his injuries from a more than brutal training session with his father and Baba Salim the day before. "She died quick, that's the way we all should go."

He laughed and told her she sounded just like their father. She smiled and took that as a compliment.

"It was seven years ago. I learned to accept it. Stop treating me like I'm gonna break." She told him keeping to herself the memories that had surfaced giving her the recollection of why the school had been attacked.

_Fucken Mercs_… she thought.

"It's hard Rafe." He told her looking straight ahead. She turned towards him and touched his cheek, her beautiful face looking at him with white sightless eyes.

"I know big brother. I know." She said putting her glasses back on and grabbing her boots. She walked extending her cane and left him wondering in silence how she got through the day and how he couldn't.

* * *

_Dr. Raphaella Janis stood in the hallway of Jack and Riddick's beach house looking grave. Not only had she had to confirm the death of one of the twins, but the maiming of the other._

"_I'm going to kill those motherfuckers one at a time." Riddick roared. Jack held him back as Kalifa and Salim brought Rafe back bloodied and silent._

_His anguished cries of pain echoed throughout the large fortified beach house as her screams of pain abruptly ended causing her father already devastated by the death of one child, to fall to his knees in despair weeping uncontrollably. No one dared call him weak at that moment, Salim especially, knowing that pain all too well._

_It took nearly an hour for Janis to rouse their daughter to full consciousness. The shock of her sister's murder and the massacre of the twenty students around her was so traumatic that she just sat silent, a heavy triage bandage covering her face._

_It was so hard to be strong and Janis knew that she the only one that could have withstood the rage long enough to identify Yasmine. Choking down bitter tears she walked out of the room wiping her clean hands on a towel and walking to her friends, a sad look on her face. _

"_Janis give me good news." Jack pleaded her face tear stained as she ran her fingers through her hair._

_Riddick stood behind her, holding her in a protective embrace his jaw set in a hard line, silent and grave._

"_Good news is that Rafe is mostly unharmed, physically." She said and the relief was instantaneous. _

"_Mostly?" Riddick snarled speaking up louder than she would have liked to hear. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"_

_He had Jack by the waist and rested his chin on her shoulder feeling as if he was going to die inside. Everyone including Janis felt so acutely ripped apart at the loss, and even with Layne at their side standing silent and grave, having watched his father fall apart and saying nothing, wanted the worst to have spared her._

_That was never going to happen, not with the injuries that she sustained._

"_Riddick. They used flash grenades, through that window we found her by. It killed three…men… and she bore the brunt of the pyro. The explosion was too close to her."_

_Jack tensed in Riddick's arms. "What are you saying?"_

"_The cuts and lacerations I can heal, but her eyes are something else." She said pausing to try and fortify herself for the rage they held so tenuously inside. "She's blind Jack. The grenade's pyro fried her lenses."_

Riddick sat in the pilot's chair and rubbed his face in frustration. In the dimness of the bridge he growled remembering that day like it was yesterday. He remembered how strong Jack had been, how strong Layne had been, how he tried to keep it together but after seeing the mess they made of his little girl and what they did to his other little girl, he lost it.

He looked down at his knuckles and remembered how he put his hand through the wall and kept punching it until Kalifa and Salim had to pull him away, how his arm ached and felt leadened at his sides and how his eyes and throat burned with pain and sorrow and how he wanted to let the animal take over and raze everything in sight.

"_My son," Salim had said running into the gym where he and Jack had been working out. Immediately he knew something was VERY wrong. "There has been another attack. They have taken the school. There are fatalities."_

_The color drained from Jack's face and he remembered grabbing her hand and running to a waiting car._

Riddick's chest felt tight and he hated that feeling. Images flooded his mind.

_He remembered watching Jack run to their daughter's side and the relief seeing Rafe alive. Then he watched as Jack began to scream when Rafe, bloodied with the blood of her sister all over her and a bandage around her head covering the cuts on her face, shaking with unsurpassable grief._

"_Rafe?" she said frantically touching her, "it's mommy, where's Yasmine?" _

_But Rafe said nothing just sat there quiet and still. _

_Time slowed for him when the medic attending to her injuries pointed towards the sheets that held the ones that didn't make it. _

_The cry that came out of his wife's mouth mimicked what he felt inside. _Riddick's hands fisted at his sides. He hated the anniversary of the massacre,

"_Here's her file." Riddick growled standing in a posh office on Talos Prime._

_A dark skinned man sat behind a desk looking at the thick folder. After almost an hour the doctor finally spoke. "This last scan is good. Her optic nerves are intact. Generally they do not regenerate."_

He remembered wanting to laugh out loud thanking his mother and father for giving him Furyan DNA.

"_So," he gruffed trying not to get his hopes up. "Can you help her?"_

"_It'll be expensive." He contended looking down at the scans and putting them up to the light, the optic scans specifically._

_Riddick didn't care what it cost._

"_Have you ever heard of a surgical shine?" the doctor asked looking at Riddick sitting back with his goggles on._

_Riddick started to laugh, loudly and unrestrained,the irony so acute he could have cut it with a knife. Suddenly the man behind the desk became nervous. Then Riddick took off his glasses and smirked at him._

"_I guess you have then." He stammered._

_Suddenly serious he spoke, "Will she see again?"_

_Closing the file and patting it. "Yes, but as you know it will be painful."_

"_Do it." he growled standing up. "Seven years is enough punishment. No one should have to live in the dark."_

_Riddick stood and shook hi hand and took the file. His face, unreadable remembered his first days in total darkness._

"_I'll be there in a week, at this hotel under the name of Grove."_

Riddick sat punching in the landing coordinates and sighed pushing down the gut wrenching sense of pain and loss. No one should ever have to bury a child. He tried to tell himself that he had to let it go, that his other children and his wife were still alive and that they needed him, but on that day, it was damn hard.

"Soon kid, soon." He promised aloud as he saw his home come into view and the clouds swirling in the distance.


	2. Homecoming

Jack Riddick sat with her knees up listening to the rain. The steady stream had all but soaked her legs and bare feet and she seemed to be numb to the slight chill in the air. She'd been sitting on their private balcony for the majority of the afternoon crying. The sky was mirroring her mood and her face, long since dry from her tears, looked tired and weary.

"You're face sprung a leak." A deep gravely voice crooned from the door behind her.

Riddick. She sighed relieved that he was finally home. She hated being alone on this day of days.

Still looking out into the increasing twilight, she replied. "Didn't notice."

Riddick hated this day more than any other because it seemed like the entire family fell apart. Yasmine's death hit them as hard as it did the other families mostly because it was revealed that some of the insurgents escaped. More so since Riddick knew that something more was underneath the surface.

At the time, a semi civil war, more turf war than anything else had come to Talos 4. Riddick and Jack had known a sort of honeymoon-like life, the beach, the kids, her garden, the life they had talked about so often. Since that day on the beach, when he put his face against her stomach and talked to the girls laughing and carrying on like a man in love, he had shoved forcefully the thoughts that pulled at him.

_When was it going to all crumble around you? You don't deserve her, she's too beautiful, too amazing, too lovely for a monster like you…_

Bliss lasted ten whole years. Then his nightmare came true. One day he had two beautiful girls who adored him and made him so proud, then in a brief second, he had lost one the other marred forever with the darkness that he couldn't stand.

He had done as much digging as he could about whoever could have been behind the massacre, vowed he'd live long enough to kill them one at a time slowly succumbing to the monster once again, then make it up to his daughter, because she survived.

He removed his goggles and enjoyed the dimming light. He was home, and home was where he belonged.

Home was where he was loved.

Home was Jack.

"This is always my favorite time of day." He said kneeling down in front of her and wrapping his arms around her. "You're cold."

"Missed you big guy." She said inhaling his scent and sighing like a cat lapping up the finest creme. "You just get back?"

"Droppedmy coat on the bed and came straight to you, just like I said I would." He said pulling her into his lap. "He looked at her file."

She nuzzled his neck and smiled when he growled in response to her touch. She still looked seventeen and no where near old enough to have a grown son and daughter. Furyan DNA was amazing. They looked no older, and were just as strong.

For every five years Kalifa and Anne aged, Jack and Riddick aged one. She looked as spunky and sexy as she did when he pulled her into his lap on her 17th birthday and damn if he didn't want her now…

_Mm. Damn Jack… _he said smiling, knowing soon she'd know just how happy he was to see her. He could never get over essence de Jack, or that _damn fine ass._

Even after almost eighteen years, she still felt like a horny teenager when he'd touch her. He chuckled realizing that she was just as happy.

"Missed you too Jack." He said groaning against her playfully. "You smell good enough to eat."

Stroking her back, soothing her, she spoke in a voice he hated to hear. It was the defeated, sorrow filled tired voice he'd come to recognize. It didn't happen often and always on that day. "Can he help her?"

He hoped that one day he would replace that voice with joy again. He purred because he felt her breath on his neck. He never got enough of that, even when he'd been with her and only her for all those years.

_All those years. Damn I'm a lucky fuck! _he thought to himself as he smiled.

"Mm, Jack." he said seductively eyeing the door."Yes, and no."

She stood up confused. "I don't understand. That was the whole point of you leaving. Did he tell you he can do it, or not? She can't take another disappointment."

He laughed getting up. He was still in his traveling clothes, black jeans, vintage Earth, black wife beater with long sleeves, and his medallion around his neck. Whenever they were separated she would give it to him, to remind him she waited for him when he got back.

Being with Jack, he always would tell her you can't forget. But it made their separation easier to handle, at least for her and sometimes for him. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her until she pulled back disoriented and wanting. "Remember her favorite question?"

The memory of watching a seven year old Rafe and Riddick made her smile, her hand flying up to her thoroughly kissed lips.

Sitting on his lap while he played with her long braids, she would pull off his goggles and stare into his silvery shined eyes. She would cock her head inquisitively and marvel and how they glowed in the twilight and how he would seem more animal than human. It seemed to calm him to see her so unafraid of him that way, not wearing the contact lenses that made him look like everyone else.

To her he was special… and that he loved most about her. She was like Jack, she accepted both sides, the human and animal and considered it normal.

_**Daddy?**_

_Yeah squirt?_

She always started the conversation off that way, always smiling and staring at his eyes.

_**Where can I get eyes like that?**_

_You gotta kill a few people…_

He would always laugh remembering Jack asking him the question, bald and inquisitive on the skiff.

_**I can do that…**_

_You don't wanna do that squirt._

He would look at Rafe, trusting and so open looking at him willing to do anything to be like him. He would wag a finger and scowl telling her it wasn't a good thing to kill people.

_**That's why you train everyday?**_

_Yeah kid._

_**Can I train like that so I can kill people?**_

_No._

_**Why not?**_

_You are too beautiful to kill people._

He would see her blush, feel the flush in her skin cause she sat so close to him when they would go through this mantra together.

_**Mommy's beautiful, she killed people.**_

_They tried to kill her._

_**Then teach me so I can keep them from killing you.**_

_(pauses) Okay, but you don't need eyes like that to learn. _

_**I love you Daddy.**_

_Love you too squirt._

That conversation was repeated so often it became a little private kind ofthing between the two of them, bringing them closer, even after Yasmine's death. There came a time even later on when she was too big tofit on his lap where she would taunt him on the mat, and he'd let her know that even as fast as she was he'd still kick her ass.

But every timethey wentthrough it, he knew that this coverastion had it's purpose,he was keeping her from falling inward, like he had when he found her mother. He was giving her the tools she'd need to survive.

The memory of the dialog Jack had with him on T2 had been a bedtime story from as early on as the cradle and Jack smiled. Their thing was so precious to watch that often she'd stand in the darkness and observe them. "Your kidding."

"No," he said walking her inside, never once releasing her from his arms. "He's coming in a week. We'll need Sasha and Janis to be ready."

"You realize," she said sitting him on the edge of their huge bed, "you'll have to train her all over again."

He did and that was something he looked forward to. She was a good student, better than even her brother, fueled by an unconscious desire to never be weak. She was fast, and deadly with a shiv. She could use her other senses better than he ever expected.

"She'll do fine Jack." He said as she pulled his shirt over his head. "He says she'll see, and that's all I care about. Damn baby, hungry already?" he quipped kissing her neck.

Seeing her lover after a week apart and looking at his muscles so tight and hard made her arousal all the more enjoyable.

"Voracious, I crave meat and baby you're it. You be the judge there, you." she said lifting the long white and blue skirt up her thighs while his hands went after his favorite part of her anatomy.

"You smell good. I love that scent on you." he told her pulling her against his arousal and groaned when she grinded against him. _Mine…_

The scent he was referring to was his own on her, marking her. She buried her face in his chest and nuzzled him growling against his throat, the one thing he craved more than anything. She was his, and he loved her so much that when she did that after a long absence, he would melt and submit to her every time.

"You are wrapped around my little finger there big guy, you are sooo predictable." She moaned as his arms snaked around her waist as he pulled her onto her back. "You're easy."

"Don't tell anyone. I've got a rep to protect." He said with a lopsided smile.

"So you think this could be it?" she said as hope swelled inside her. He moved a stray hair out of her face before he kissed her cheek lovingly. "God, I never thought we'd ever see this day come."

His lips played with hers in a soft sensual exchange of affectionate kisses. "Me either. Now I just have to convince squirt that this is the** real** thing." He told her trying not to get his hopes up too much.

They had so many false alarms and he could understand her not wanting to give Rafe false hope. In the past, the false alarms had been so painful and he didn't want her to hurt anymore than necessary. "Love you Jack."

"Love you too big guy." She said tugging at his belt and winking mischievously. "Now, looking at you right about now, someone is wearing too many clothes."

"I can fix that." He told her pulling her top off and diving into those perfectly tone breasts.

"Bet you can." She said giggling like a teenager.


	3. Refuge

The courtyard was beautifully decorated. It was one of the few things Rafe could remember from her sighted days. The jasmine was along the right of the bench she always sat on, to the left was the roses that her mother had planted every year. Lanterns adorned the walls giving a soft inviting glow to the place once the suns set. Over the walls she could still hear the sea and everything around her commanded to her senses to embrace peace, tranquillity and calmed the beast that continued to beat at her well honed calm.

_Revenge_, it growled again and again. _You remember everything now. _

"Uncle Danny, you need to be a little more quiet if you want to sneak up on me. Remember who my teacher is." She said smiling. She was in a long skirt and loose fitting shirt that flowed against her skin as the breeze hit it. "I can hear you coming a mile away."

He loved watching her in the darkness. "Shit Rafe, can't sneak up any of you Riddicks." He chuckled. "Okay, I admit it, stealth was never one of my strong points. You're right."

"Everyone's treating me like I'm glass. The only ones that don't are you and David, and he treats me like we're still in grade school and he's kicking my ass." She said rolling her eyes and putting her feet up.

"That's a sign he likes you." he said remembering the 8 year old mentality.

"That man couldn't express himself out of a paper bag." She said laughing. "He smells good though and isn't afraid to tell me off."

"That's always good squirt. Don't let them push you around." He quipped. He watched her smile.

"You're always smiling. Why?" she asked looking towards his face.

"You can see me?" he asked instantly on edge. That miracle would be an answer to prayer.

"No, but your voice changes slightly, most can't notice it but I do." She said moving to touch his face. "See, your face muscles are making the sound out of your mouth differently."

"If you say so." He said amazed at her powers of perception. "You're mom and dad worry squirt, you've all been through a lot."

She rubbed her eyes. "I know that but…"

"This skinny fuck bothering you?" A deep voice said from the darkness.

"Daddy!" a happy voiceexclaimed as she stood and ran towards the sound of his voice. She threw her arms around his waist and he held her close and twirled her around the courtyard.

"How does she do that Riddick?" Daniel Roper asked stunned. "She's blind for Christ's sake."

Riddick laughed loudly and put her down letting her answer that for herself. "My senses as a Furyan female are much more attuned _Uncle _Danny."

"Hey Riddick, good to see you." he said shaking his boss's hand.

"Danny," he said looking at him and smiling as Rafe went back to the bench and sat down. "I need to talk with Rafe give us a minute." He asked and it only took a second to realize what it meant.

Danny hoped he could convince her since everyone but her knew why he went on this last trip to Talos Prime. He mouthed _Good Luck… _"Sure see ya squirt." He said ruffling her hair.

"I hate it when he does that…" she smirked rolling her sightless eyes.

Riddick took a deep breath and sat next to her. She'd always been the brightest part of his life and his favorite among his children even when he told himself that he didn't play favorites.

"Rafe," he started. "Listen, there's a Doc that can give you your sight back."

She scoffed at the idea having heard that one too many times and it ended up not being true. Remembering the countless times since the attack when she'd get her hopes up only to have them crushed, she paid little attention to any talk of rehabilitating into a normal life again.

Riddick could smell the fear on her. It covered her like a bad perfume and he hated it.

Some things couldn't be helped. He knew that but he didn't have to like it.

"He's wrong. They all say that and they're always wrong. I can't go through that again."

He could understand her reticence. He stood up watching her cry. He hated that sound more than hearing Jack cry. "What if I told you I knew this would work?"

She chuckled. "Honestly? I tell you that you were full of shit and to drop it while you're still standing upright."

_Nice Rafe, just like your mother… _he thought laughing out loud.

"Nice mouth you kiss your mother with that?" he asked loving this sarcastic streak she'd been showing lately.

"You should talk you kiss my mother with yours?"

"Every chance I get squirt, now answer the question." He playfully demanded.

"I don't know. I've been hurt too many times to believe it." she said honestly.

"Do you trust me?" he asked looking at her. When she didn't answer he asked her again raising his voice. "Do-you-trust-me?"

She closed her eyes and looked in the direction of his voice and answered quietly, "Of course Dad."

_Dad. _That was the way she'd answer him when she was evading him and being polite.

"Rafe," he started wanting her to really listen and not blow him off. "ask me the question."

She thought about it for a moment and started to laugh. "You're kidding right?"

"Ask me the question." He repeated.

_Come on kid… _he thought _come on, play with me again, like you used to.._

She rolled her eyes and realized he'd knelt down in front of her and placed his hands on her knees. She removed his goggles and her small delicate fingers ran over his closed eyes. "Hey, where can I get eyes like that?"

He laughed and touched her hands. "Funny you s hould ask that...You lay on a table and let a Doc removed the lenses and the scar tissue."

"You trust this guy?" she said pulling her hands away. "Is he better than Papa Joe? How many menthol cools his this costing you? God I hope more than twenty…"

He didn't want her to know that it cost him almost 100,000 credits to have this guy do it right. He could care how much he just wanted her to see again.

Her father laughed a deep throaty laugh filled with irony. "Yeah kid."

"I need to think about it." she said her hands shaking.

"Okay sweetheart." Ht said kissing her forehead and walked out into the darkness. He left her just as quietly as he had come and she resumed her quiet observance of the sounds of the sea contemplating what life would be like if she could see again.

_No Braille. No cane. David's face… Who am I kidding…._ She thought… _It's not going to work…_

She smiled still skeptical, walking back to her rooms and fell straight asleep dreaming of seeing everything and looking in the darkness for her sister's killer.

Sweet dreams all, revenge foremost on her mind.

* * *

"Hey you." a familiar voice said from the stone wall. The suns were shining brightly and he had to shield his face to see her. She was wearing a flowing skirt and shirt, and her feet were bare. She looked calm and peaceful but he knew something was wrong. They had known one another for years and he learned long ago not to take anything she did or said at face value.

"Hey yourself." Rafe said sitting on the beach wiggling her toes in the warm sand.

David Ib Haben Maz walked towards her and plopped down tossing sand on her legs. "You mind?" she asked brushing her skirt and flipping him off angrily.

"Not at all." he said triumphantly. Her sunglasses didn't move from looking straight ahead and he knew even though she didn't show it, that he'd gotten her riled again.

He noticed her quietness and the lack of fight and knew something was on her mind. Having known her since infancy he'd be surprised if he was wrong.

"Something you want?" she asked and he smirked. He had begun to notice her not as the skinny little sister of his best friend but as an entirely different animal. It had come upon him gradually and one day while he was working out with the rest of them. She'd flipped him on his back straddling his hips and clutching a shiv against his throat and he got hard. VERY hard. That surprise got him noticing her more and more. She was very sexy with a knife and damn if it didn't bother the hell out of him.

She was always the gawky little sister who would bump into him, piss him off, flip him off at every turn and always got under his skin. But not anymore.

"Nothing string bean. You okay?" he asked looking at her. Colored like her Aunt Anne and skin more like his father he looked at her cocking his head as if trying to read in her body language the cause of her thoughtfulness.

"Sure, it's not like I died or something." She told him leaning back on her elbows. He looked down and noticed her hard body and smiled. "Stop gawking you perv."

He hated that even though she was blind she could feel his movements like radar.

"No, you didn't Rafe. I can see that, nice rack though." He smirked looking at her and laughing.

"Ass." She snapped. "Can't say anything nice, can you?"

"Hey, I just paid you a compliment string bean, at least you can acknowledge that." He quipped, he loved getting her going.

"Shut it. I'm thinking." She told him throwing his voice a look.

"Don't hurt yourself." He said laughing and she smacked him squarely in the chest for it. "Hey," he said clearing his throat. "I just saw your dad."

"So." She said sarcastically. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay. But he told mom and dad that they're gonna shine your eyes." He said looking at her and playing in the sand with a stick. "You'll have the same kind of vision that Uncle Riddick has."

"It's a lie, they all say they can help me but you know the truth as well as I do."

He knew all about the doctors promising her sight and falling short. No one wanted her to go through that again. But if Uncle Riddick believed, he trusted that.

"But what if you could see?" he asked and again her mind flooded with images of a man's face, tattoos and the door that he left through. "What would you do?"

She looked at him and gave him the deathly quiet glare he'd rarely seen, "You have _no_ idea."

* * *

Hours later, Jack went to Rafe's room to help her dress to go to the club that she owned with Riddick. Refuge, a techno club that catered to the elite of Talos 4 was hosting a band called Devil's Playthings.

"You want me to help you pick something out?" she asked sitting on Rafe's bed.

Her room was neat and bore a very personal style that Jack admired. Her bed faced the window, a large twelve foot high plate glass that had deep billowy curtains and a screen, overlooking the jasmine in the garden. Many a night did she and Riddick see the glass was slid aside and feel her presence enjoying the cool sea breeze.

"I wear what the tags tell me mom, I can read the dots just fine." she said walking over to the closet and picking out her favorite black hip huggers. "You and Dad get along okay?"

"Just fine. He's worried about you." she told her daughter as Rafe got dressed. "We heard you screaming again last night. More bad dreams?"

"No. I had a flashback. The one where I saw the killers again. This time I can see their faces, I could recognize them if I could see again. I remember everything that happened that day, like it was yesterday…" she told her pulling a tight black shirt over her head. "Mom, I'm gonna kill them all."

"Stand in line kiddo." She said looking at her. "Damn baby you're turning into quite the hottie. Fran meeting you there?"

Francine was a friend that stuck by her after the attack. She saw her at school and occasionally down on the beach but never came to the house. That was a rule that Rafe never disobeyed. No one but family was ever allowed into the compound. Daniel thought it was best that way and he was the head of security.

"Yeah, it's her first time at the club. Should be fun, she's got a thing for Layne." Rafe answered running her fingers through her hair and playing with the earrings she put in.

"I hear David's gonna be there." She threw out there wanting to see a response.

"So, it's a free planet now, why shouldn't he?" She answered putting on her mechanic's boots and taking three shivs of the dressing table. One she put in each boot the other in a specially made belt she wore around her waist.

"I saw you two on the beach today. Very cozy." She kidded.

"Shut it mom. He's a big fat pig who still thinks it's funny to pull my hair." She said putting her shades on and grabbing her stick. "Get ready, you gotta go to work."

* * *

Layne sat in the large living room dressed to impress in his vintage blue jeans and a black wife beater. "Come on Rafe, we're wasting time. Right David?"

But his best friend didn't answer because conscious thought eluded him when she walked in.

"What David's not saying is that yes, I'm ready to go. Honestly, if those fuckers hadn't taken my eyes I'd of been ready twenty minutes ago." she said sticking her tongue out at David who she knew sat to her right. "Come on. I feel the need to let the animal out. I've been moping around enough for the entire family."

David rose and walked behind her enjoying the view and got a smack from Layne who wasn't too keen on his best friend staring at his sister's ass. "Ow."

His meaning was clear enough. Hands off, meant hands off.

"Daniel is driving tonight. He's being super cautious." Rafe said looking towards her brother. They still couldn't understand how she knew where they were standing but never said anything and she enjoyed keeping them wondering.

Riddick had taken special pains to teach her the art of sightless seeing. He trained her other senses to take up where her eyes could not and Rafe was a very adept pupil.

The ride to the club didn't take long and Layne noticed a bevy of beauties waiting outside along the rope line. Daniel took Rafe's arm and escorted them to the side entrance and inside where the music played loudly over the sound system pounded like a heartbeat in her head.

"Rafe!" a bubbly voice screamed, "Rafe it's me Frannie!"

Rafe smiled and handed Daniel her cane. He always took it when they were inside because no matter how much she wanted to be functional, she didn't want to appear blind. It caused too many questions. Sunglasses on, she just looked cool. "Hey Frannie, you get in all right?"

"Yeah, your dad sent a car! Wow this place is sick!" she said her deep brown hair and blue eyes shining with excitement. Her perfectly demure body held curves soft and lush and many had already looked at her before her friend's arrival. Dressed in a black mini skirt and boots her pink top showed just enough skin to get noticed. Against Rafe, she looked ready to party. But Rafe just wanted to relax, something she looked forward to at every turn.

"We've got about twenty minutes before the band starts want a drink?" Rafe asked as she allowed Frannie to discretely walk with her to the bar.

"Hey Robbie, the usual for me and something without the go juice for my friend." She said smiling. Robbie was the best bartender, allowing her to be herself just like Daniel and David did.

"Sure Rafe, coming up." Said the big guy smiling at Frannie who was just awe struck by the sleek design, and sea of people undulating to a kicking beat.

"Rafe, there are so many hot guys here!" she said checking everyone out. "There's a hot one over there."

"Describe said hottie to me." she said smiling and leaning on the bar.

"Well, he's tall, great ass, big muscles and a kick ass smile. He's so hot DAMN!" she said looking away.

"Is he dark skinned or light?" was her next question.

She covertly looked his way, and he seemed to be staring at Rafe. "Kind of in the middle, but light if you had to pick, not milk toast white but you know…"

"Go on." She said calmly sipping her drink and smiling.

"Oh my God! He's looking over here." She said jumpy.

"Does he have anything distinguishing about him?" Rafe asked touching her forearm.

"Well, outside of the fact he keeps staring and looks delicious, he's…"

"Does he have a pair of goggles on?" she asked smirking at her.

"Yeah, come to think about it he does. Why? How did you know?" she asked perplexed.

"Frannie, that's my dad." She said laughing as the man came over. "Hey dad, this is Frannie, she can't talk cause you like a ten on 'the man you are hot' meter."

Fran turned a deep shade of red and he laughed out loud kissing Rafe's forehead.

"Nice to meet one of Rafe's friends, have a good time. Come up to the office I want to see you later."

"Sure Dad. Don't have too much fun with mom up there. I got a rep to protect." She smirked as he walked back up the stairs to the mirrored room.

"Damn Rafe, how old is your dad? He looks too young to be old enough to have grown kids." She said shaking her head.

"Young, but old enough to still kick my ass." She said laughing as they turned to listen to Devil's Playthings.


	4. Refuge Part II

**Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing! It's great to have such loyal devoted fans! Yes, Layne has grown up into quite the hottie.**

**But then again, being a product of Jack and Riddick who could he not be one?**

* * *

Rafe looked towards the band and smiled. Devil's Plaything was a protégé group that her mother simply adored. She'd heard them at a club three years earlier and bank rolled them making tons on the club circuit. 

Not widely known was the fact that Jack Riddick was a fan of old movies and more to the point, old movie soundtracks. Rafe began to listen to the pounding drum beat and the sound of crows begin as the music began to pulse.

"Come on Frannie, get me to the middle, it's from the Crow." One of her favorite sound tracks. Her mother had hundreds, some dark like that movie, some airy. She had a wide range of tastes. This one was Rafe's favorites. Little did she know, was that the band had chosen it as a thank you to Jack for having such faith in them and when Rafe looked towards the stage Jack and Riddick looking down from their vantage point smiled knowing that she was happy at least for that moment.

Fran dragged her to the middle and Rafe took off her glasses and put them in her back pocket.

_Don't look don't look... the shadows breathe  
Whispering me away from you_

The sea of bodies began to undulate to the sounds of the lead singer talking about a girl that was lost.

_Don't wake at night to watch her sleep  
You know that you will always lose  
This trembling  
Adored  
Tousled bird mad girl...  
_

Hearing shouts of pure excitement due to the song's popularity, Frannie watched as Rafe forgot herself moving in time with the mob. She realized then that her friend felt only the music, only the sounds reverberating off the walls.

"Good for you Rafe…" she said moving near her. _It's about time you let go…_

_But every night I burn  
But every night I call your name  
Every night I burn  
Every night I fall again  
_

She closed her eyes and tried to find the right movement but felt slightly out of place. She looked up at Rafe who's milky white eyes looked drunk with the melodic beat of the drums and guitars. At that time it was only the music, she disappeared and felt only the thudding beat…

_Just paint your face the shadows smile  
Slipping me away from you_

_  
Oh it doesn't matter how you hide  
Find you if we're wanting to_

_  
So slide back down and close your eyes  
Sleep a while_

_  
You must be tired... _

Rafe moved fluidly, remembering how alive she felt when music inundated her ears. Little did she know, but Rafe was being watched…

David sat at the bar, running his fingers through his sandy blonde hair. His ice blue eyes and dark Arab skin contrasted so intensely that women around him took notice very quickly. He leaned back on his elbows wearing a deep blue button down shirt and black slacks, looking very handsome.

But amid the stares, he didn't seem to be interested in those around him. His eyes were elsewhere. His gaze was intent on watching a tiny slip of a girl moving methodically in the sea of bodies deep under the effects of the techno beat.

_But every night I burn  
Every night I call your name  
Every night I burn  
Every night I fall again  
Every night I burn  
Scream the animal scream  
_

He saw her eyes light up in the pulse of the strobes and could have sworn that she had looked directly at him, like an animal in the darkness. He stopped breathing and thought… _FUCK!…_

_Every night I burn  
Dream the crow black dream._

_Dream the crow black dream…_

Layne running his hands over a leggy blonde noticed his best friend's stare and followed his eyes to the crowd. His arms tensed around the girl he was dancing with and with his lips against her neck he watched his sister dancing…

She was all animal…

His eyes darted back and forth between the two and he didn't like one bit the effect his sister was having on David. He let the girl he was dancing with go making her look at him and didn't feel the slap against his arm as he walked away without a backwards glance.

"Hey," he said in David's face. "Stop looking at her."

"Leave me alone Layne. You're not my mother." He said surly.

"Face it, she's not gonna bite." He said realizing his best friend just didn't see her as a piece of ass.

"I know, but it's like I'm a bug and she's the zapper. Can't help it."

Layne asked for two shots. "To numb the pain, man."

"To numbing the pain." He said as they downed the fire whiskey and slammed down the glasses. "She's incredible and…"

"Also immune to your bullshit." Layne said in a deep chuckle.

"Thanks asshole." He told him laughing.

He went back to staring while she moved to the music, having changed into a fast industrial montage of sound and lights.

At the other end of the bar stood a man who also had been staring at Rafe. His eyes never left her as he drank a large double of Aquilian whiskey, taking in her other worldliness and drinking her complete lack of restraint as well.

He knew what he had to do…

* * *

Riddick looked down at the crowd and silently applauded his wife's incredible business sense. She sat at the desk going over some figures on the computer when he began to speak. 

"We've got a packed house and there's a line out the door. It'll be a good night." He said looking down at everything. The two way mirror showed everything and against the other wall were security cameras. "Did you talk to her?"

He was sipping his drink and staring down watching her like a sentinel. He needed her to say yes...

She slowly walked over and stood next to him leaning against his strong arm, "She's still on the fence."

"He'll be here in a few days." He reminded her putting his arm around her.

"She'll do it. Send David, she listens to him." His wife said smiling mischievously.

"No she doesn't, they hate each other. You don't watch them spar." He told her pulling her into his embrace.

"I love you Jack."

"I love you to Riddick, more now than yesterday." She said as he kissed her neck while continuing to watch. "They don't hate each other. Look." She said pointing down at the bar.

The surprise was so clear that Riddick had to look twice before he believed it. "Well, fuck me…" he started as he heard Jack's teasing laughter. "Later there, you. I never saw that coming. When the fuck did that happen?"

"Father's rarely do, my dear." She said sounding like an old lady… "Been noticing that for a few weeks. That's the face you used to give me when we were on the ship. That baby, is a man in DENIAL."

Riddick laughed remembering how it felt to walk around with a constant erection and being so frustrated that he couldn't breathe right.

But then a scowl graced his face as he remembered that this was a man who wanted to nail _his _daughter… "Looks like I'm needing to have a word with the kid."

_More than a word_…. He thought…

"Leave them alone baby. She's practically an adult. Remember when I was her age?"

He did and all he wanted to do was rip her clothes off and dive right into her every chance he got. Those thoughts did not comfort Riddick, the father…

He growled causing her to laugh and move him to the couch where she straddled him and began stroking his bald head removing his goggles. "Lights ten percent."

He purred as she petted him calming the rising agitation inside him. "Do you worry that Layne nails everything in sight?"

"No, just as long as he doesn't knock them up." He said closing his silvery eyes and enjoying her touch. His low purr was her favorite sound in the universe…

"She's fine. We had 'the talk' and there will be NO chance of my having grandchildren. I am far too young, and so are you to be old folks. Janis even told me I could have more if we wanted."

She wanted to see what he thought about that. His eyebrow cocked up and he gave her a strange look. He'd thought she never wanted to risk having another one only to lose it to mercs who got it in their mind to try and use their kids as leverage…

"What are you saying Jack?" he asked nuzzling her breasts against her black shirt. "You want to try and have another one?"

"Maybe, we can at least practice…" she smirked.

"We practice all the time." He retorted having to fuck with her a little.

"Practice makes perfect baby." She said running her fingers down his torso to the raging arousal underneath her.

"I'll be the judge of that." He said looking into her darkly aroused eyes. "Door, lock on my command."

* * *

"Damn!" Frannie said slick with sweat. Rafe had replaced her lenses and had Fran nonchalantly walk her to the bar.

Robbie touched Rafe's hand, something that she knew meant to pay attention, it was a little signal. "These drinks, "he said loudly, "are on the house, compliments of the man at the end of the bar."

Quietly she asked Robbie, "Which side?"

Robbie touched her right hand, handing her a napkin and she turned so cool, towards the right side of the bar and raised her glass. "Zero G?" she said forcing the strong drink down. It immediately froze her vocal cords as she bit down on the intense ball of liquor. "WAHOO!"

Fran drank her non-alcoholic drink and smiled. It quickly faded as she said in her ear, "He's coming over here."

Rafe froze. The alcohol, notoriously strong and instantly intoxicating began to numb her brain.

"Do me a favor, get my brother." She asked as she tried to look cool. She didn't like strangers coming on to her, she wasn't like that. At least she hoped she wasn't like the other girls that seemed to flock her parent's club.

She took a deep breath fighting off the buzz. Zero G shots were potent. She smelled him, sensing something about him that seemed familiar. Then he spoke. "I enjoyed watching you."

Inside her heart began to pound furiously. _Calm yourself Rafe… _"Wasn't aware I was on display."

_No…. No…._

"This is an interesting club. What kind of music plays here?" he asked smiling, though she couldn't see that. "I'm looking to expand my business and like the way this club runs."

"Dunno, loud?" she said slightly defensively. "Do I know you?"

"I doubt it." he said getting closer.

She felt his gaze and he made her uncomfortable. Something about him made her want to run. "Take a picture, it lasts longer."

_What the fuck are you looking at? _She remembered.

"Do you dance often when you come here?" he asked placing his hand on her arm.

He noticed she didn't flinch and he grinned. Something about her was familiar and he couldn't place it either. He had many women but she was different. "Sometimes."

"I own several clubs and I'd love to see you dance in one of mine." He said feeling the need to touch her and seeing a man with the girl she was dancing with.

_A dead man…_

"I will see you again. For now take this card." He said setting it underneath her drink.

Coming quickly towards him were Layne and David, Frannie following them. By the time they got to her she was as white as her eyes and when Layne took her shades off they were dilated and she was shaking. "Rafe, talk to me."

_Fuck! What the fuck is she on?_

She stood there shaking and Robbie was on the other end of the bar serving drinks so he would prove to be little help.

Layne looked at David who had the same idea and took her forcibly by the arms and walked her towards the office. She was easily lead through the crowd and Layne was fuming by the time they reached the stairs.

Frannie ran ahead and a bouncer saw the Riddick children coming and let her in. The big black man ushered them upstairs and Frannie banged on the door. The music outside blared and after a minute Riddick opened it.

To the untrained senses nothing seemed amiss, but to both Layne and David, the scent was unmistakable. Ushering Rafe in he shot his father a glare that said, _Get a room…._

At first, his father only smirked as if to reply, _get a grip kid_.

"What happened?" he said instantly on edge looking at Rafe as they sat her down. She wasn't speaking and her eyes were glazed over. David knelt by her and held her hand and Layne did all the talking.

"We found her after Frannie came a got us. Some asshole was talking to her."

"How the FUCK did she get like this?" he snarled looking at her eyes and her lethargy. He took her glasses off and looked at her eyes closely and watched her move slowly as he manhandled her.

"Uh." Fran said quietly as Daniel came in with two bouncers. "This guy gave us drinks and uh, she said, uh go and uh get Layne." She was terrified because Riddick was standing there railing on everyone without his goggles on. All Frannie could see was the fury mixed with rage and annoyance in his eyes.

"Dad," Layne said throwing him a pair of sunglasses, "You're scaring the straights…"

He knew what she had ingested by the pupil dilation and euphoric buzz. ZERO G shots…

"Sorry kid." He said looking at her and putting them on. "What happened?"

Frannie sat next to Jack who was at a large desk, and even though the large upholstered chair was comfortable it didn't calm her even though it should have. "David was staring at Rafe while she danced and it was kinda cool…"

Riddick shot him a look that meant they'd be having a talk later on while she continued, "Then he went away, she hadn't noticed any of the fact that there was this other man looking too. Creepy old guy."

"How old?" he asked trying to be nice, but saying it through his teeth.

"Like 40 or something." She said and Jack stifled a laugh. "We went to the bar afterwards and the bartender, he's a honey, said that the old geezer bought us drinks."

"Pull Robbie off the bar and get his ass up here." Riddick ordered rubbing his face and pacing. "Now, tell me what he looked like?"

He was in Frannie's face and she began shaking when he growled at her. "Uh…Uh…Uh…"

A small voice began to speak and Riddick spun around to see his daughter blinking. "It…was…him…"

"Get her some water David." He said shooting the man a glare.

Robbie walked into the office and immediately knew he was in trouble. "What the fuck were you thinking giving her Zero G?"

"I just did what the man asked me to do." He told his boss and stood there ready to get it for fucking up.

"You're done. OUT!" he said looking at the man and had him forcefully escorted out.

"Stop scaring everybody baby." Jack said putting her hand on his arm.

He calmed only briefly and turned back to Fran. "Okay," he said taking a breath and calming himself. Rafe was only about a hundred twenty pounds and a shot of Zero G knocked him on his ass, so she was much worse off. "Did he get you something alcoholic too?"

"N-no Mr. Riddick. Seltzer with lime. She drank the shot, crunched the ball and said to go get Layne." She said looking at Layne begging for something, anything that would get her out of the hot seat.

"What did he look like? Close your eyes and try to remember." He said through his teeth, his hands fisted at his sides.

"Tall, not bad looking in an old geezer kind of way, dark…" she began when another smaller far away voice began to speak.

"A dragon tattoo on his right forearm in three colors," Rafe said looking straight ahead the tears streaming down her face. "Red, black, and green. A demon with black tipped wings on his inner right wrist, a tribal swirl on his left arm decorated with skulls. Below it bloodied roses and thorns wrapping around his forearm all the way down to his wrists sleeving his left arm. His right arm had similar markings. Shirt sleeves. That's what they looked like. His voice sounded like a cross between Uncle Kalifa and Baba Salim. There is a scar on his cheek. He has brown eyes and a scar just under his chin."

"How did she know that?" Frannie asked unaware of Rafe's history. She had arrived on Talos 4 six months after the tragedy and knew nothing of what had happened that day.

"Sh!" they all said looking to Rafe. She sat with her face emotionless.

"Daddy?" she said looking up.

"Yeah squirt?" he said kneeling in front of her. "We're all here. He's not going to hurt you again. I promise kid. Drink this water."

She did and put her shaky hand out. It touched his cheek and she looked into his face as tears stream down her face. "He touched me again."

Rage swelled inside him as her friend remarked to David quietly, "She's blind how does she do that?"

David smiled sadly, "Don't worry about it."

Riddick looked up and said to Daniel, "Take her," pointing to Frannie, "home. Now! Then get your ass back here. We've got four hours of security tape to look through."

"Go home kid. Rafe's gonna be fine. She'll call you tomorrow or the next day." Riddick told her friend in his softest voice.

Once Frannie was on her way, Jack and Riddick looked at each other. "Daddy?"

"Yeah kid?" he was trying to suppress the rage. He was trying so damn hard.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken the drink." She said feeling ashamed. She never drank, never defiled her body with intoxicants.

"It's over, keep drinking the water." He said standing up and motion for David to sit by her.

"Layne, when Daniel gets back, take your sister home. Both of you keep an eye on her and tell Kalifa I want to see him. Send the old man too." Riddick ordered.

"Sure dad." Layne said waiting by the door.

"Daddy?" she said her head clearing. "He said he wanted me to dance at one of his clubs. Here."

David took the card out of her hand and gave it to Riddick who looked at it, handed it to Jack and then put his fist through a patch of wall that looked like it had been repaired many times.

"SON OF A BITCH!" he roared as Jack saw the emblem of the worst of the underground syndicate groups.


	5. Revelations and Decisions

When Rafe finally got to the house, having been silent the entire car ride home, she felt less drunk and disoriented. But her senses had been dulled to a point where she bumped into everything around her.

She had even dozed leaning against Layne's arm only to shoot straight up and scream afraid because she wasn't sure of her surroundings.

Her room was dark as it always was and Layne sat her on her bed. "Lights ten percent."

"I don't need the light you know." She said sarcastically.

"Shut it little sis. You're making me mad." He said taking off her boots. "What the hell were you thinking accepting a drink? It's not like you had a fucken clue what was in it...until it was too late."

"Oh," she said leaning back slowly on her elbows, "this is the you're a fucken stupid girl speech? I would have expected _that_ from David."

"David's already on my shit list because he walked away when he was supposed to be keeping an eye on you."

"I can take care of myself Layne, so be nice and fuck off." She said turning over and grabbing a pillow.

"You sure showed that to everyone tonight Rafe." He said walking to the door. "Go sleep that shit off."

She saluted him with a finger and closed her eyes.

* * *

A blood curdling scream broke the silence of the night an hour later and David reached her first. "Lights." 

She sat up in bed and frantically felt around the covers looking for something.

"Don't." he said grabbing her wrist stopping her from leaving the bed. "You'll fall over. The alcohol is still dulling your senses."

"I'm fine David." She said getting up and falling over.

"I can see that Rafe." He said pulling her back up and sitting her on the edge of the bed.

"You okay?" he asked grabbing a garbage can. Her pale sweaty face didn't give him confidence that she was all right.

He saw her face contort and was right there when her stomach gave up its contents. "Now I am." she said as he took her by the hand and led her to the bathroom. He took a cloth and quietly gave it to her as she sat on the toilet seat and wiped her face.

"You wanna talk about it?" he asked knowing it as better not to push.

"Not just yet, it still feels too real to explain." She told him handing the cloth out to an imaginary hand in the air. "But thanks for witnessing my gastrointestinal pyrotechnics."

"Any time Rafe. Anytime." He said laughing. "Wanna sit in the garden, you always used to when this would happen."

"Sure, lead away. Can't seem to find my stick anywhere." She said looking straight ahead.

"Layne took it to try and keep you laying down." he offered taking her hand and putting it on his forearm.

"He doesn't understand that I've known the layout of this house since birth and I had sight for the first nine years. I remember everything about it. Dad made sure I could get around this place without it. But hey, he needs to feel important now anyway. Where is he?"

"Went back to the club. Your dad is flipping out." David told her as they sat on her favorite bench.

"I can only imagine. That hole's gonna get bigger if he keeps that up." She said rolling her eyes.

"Better the wall than one of us." He said matter of factly. "He hits pretty hard you know."

She did know. Their daily workouts were intense and she had more than once felt what it was like to get hit by a man that size. But she also knew that she could dish it out just as easily.

He sat beside her and waited a little longer. "So," he began, "spill it."

" Ass... I just did you moron." but after a minute she realized he was serious. Her face saddened. "I remember everything. The whole day now, not just bits and pieces." She told him in the moonlight.

"You sure?" he asked watching the breeze blow her bangs out of her face. _Man was she beautiful_... he thought.

"Yeah." She said shakily.

"That bad?" he asked as she sat in the darkness.

"Oh yeah." She said in a quiet timid voice.

* * *

Jack and Riddick let the manager on duty close the club while they came back to the compound. Men were posted at the gate and along the perimeter and Daniel had placed a guard at the kid's house after he dropped her off. 

"Where is she?" Riddick asked looking in her room and finding nothing.

"Baby, she's out in the garden." Jack said looking into the courtyard.

Riddick found her sitting with David and they looked calm and peaceful. He was grateful for that. Maybe he'd go easy on him when the time came for their 'talk', but then again maybe not.

"Hi daddy." Rafe said a few seconds before David realized he was there.

"Hey squirt." Riddick said coming to kneel down by the bench. "How you holding up?"

"Besides puking my guts out ruining my cool girl image, nothing I can't handle."

He laughed. "Well, that'll teach you to take drinks from strangers."

"Well DUH dad." She said rolling her eyes. "David's been keeping company. Pretty big guard dog if you ask me."

He liked the fact that she bounced back into sarcastic kid mode, just like her mother did at that age. "Where's Baba?"

"Why kid?" he asked as David rose to leave and watching her hand stop him by grabbing his forearm. Riddick noticed his surprise and said nothing.

"I want to talk to him and you together." She said plainly looking straight ahead and blinking.

"Sure squirt." He said as Layne ran through the compound to Janis and Salim's bungalow.

They stayed silent until Salim came, having only just returned to his home after a two hour pow wow at the club.

"Baba?" his favorite pupil asked as the old man came to her side.

"Yes my child." He answered softly.

"I remember everything now. Every moment is so clear in my mind. But I cannot say the words." She said and immediately he knew her meaning.

Jack stood next to the roses and bit her index finger not wanting to have Rafe relive those terrifying moments. She also didn't want to hear exactly _what_ had actually happened so many years ago. _How Yasmine had died..._

"Baba?" she asked as Janis came to stand by Jack's side, "help me remember so that daddy can go kill him."

"It should not be for revenge that you do such a thing Raphaella." He told her trying to impress upon her the gravity of such a task.

"I know, but I will not let him live to do this to someone else." She said bravely. "His crime is too great and Yasmine needs to be avenged."

Riddick looked at Salim who then looked to Janis who held in her hand a bag that contained her medical supplies. "This will be traumatic Rafe, and not only for you."

"I can't live with this inside me any longer, you need to know and I won't have the courage to do it on my own."

Riddick had only seen hypnotic regression once before and he hoped to never see it again. Salim had taken Janis' grandson Ali when he was twelve and regressed him because someone had snatched one of Kalifa's children off the street. The child was found unharmed and the pedophile was gutted long before he could do the little girl any harm. After that, no one left the compound without an armed escort.

"Baba, please…" she begged shaking slightly.

"Yes my child." He said weakly smiling. "Listen to the sound of my voice."

He began to chant in Arabic and she felt herself drifting. "Raphaella, you are safe with me. There is no fear that can cling to your beautiful cloudless soul."

Her eyes closed and her breathing was slow and even. "We are needing to go back to a day long ago. You can go and there will be no danger, do you understand this?"

"Yes Baba." She said calmly.

"We are on the day of the twentieth of September, this date you know well."

"Yes, it's the day that I was supposed to die and didn't." she said as Riddick paced back and forth. _Aw baby don't think that..._

Her admission pierced his heart and he sighed sadly...Survival guilt was a bitch but he hadn't thought she felt so responsible.

"Yes, now, where are you?"

"Class." She said flatly.

"What is going on?" he asked looking towards Jack and giving her a calming glance.

She knew that he would never allow Rafe to have an ounce of additional trauma. But her finally disclosing the details of that day seemed to frighten her worse than anything else had done.

"The boys are looking at Yasmine _again_." she said smirking. "Like always. She's so much prettier than me."

Everyone shook their heads smiling at the revelation and waited for her to continue.

"Let us move to just before your next class. What do you see?"

"Nothing. I was thinking that if David pulled my hair **one more time** I'd kick him in the balls for it." she said and Jack tried to stifle a giggle. David was notorious at that age for tormenting her and seeing them together now even he shook his head trying not to laugh.

Everyone looked at David and smiled, remembering him at that age. They fought constantly.

The expression on her face suddenly changed and Salim looked at Riddick warily. "What's wrong Raphaella?"

"Air's different. I smell something. Something that reminds me of burning wood." She said scrunching up her nose.

Kalifa, lingering in the back stood by Riddick who leaned against the post. "Corrosive to burn through the doors."

He agreed and waited for her to go on. "Continue and know that I have your hand in mine." He did and she blinked.

They watched as her head turned to the left and her breathing changed. "Get down!" she shouted trying to move.

"What is happening child?" he asked Jack's grip on Janis getting tighter.

"Oh shit. Mercs!" she said looking towards nothingness.

"How can you be sure?" Salim asked looking into her face.

"Daddy told me that's who wanted him and that he'd always have a payday on his head. Smell them a mile away. Boots, weapons, shiny badges. Pieces of shit." she said disgusted.

"GET DOWN, Yaz, come on. You need to move." She said darting her face and pulling on Salim's hand.

"What does Yasmine tell you?" Salim said feeling everyone who watched getting tense.

"She says I'm full of it. But I know different. She hates training but I don't. Dad wouldn't lie, he never lies. Uh…Uh…Uh…"

Her body goes stiff and she starts to pant actively flinching as if hearing harsh sounds and feeling abrupt movement. "Raphaella, listen to the sound of my voice. The violence has passed and you are safe, it is safe to see and to tell. Do you understand me?"

"Yes Baba." She said once again breathing calm and even. "They shot Ms. Andres, and Ms. Carlisle. They shot Frank and Adam, they're dead. Everyone's running…"

"How many do you see?" he asked as David loomed next to his father.

"Three by the door, two by the window and the leader putting another charging clip into his pulse rifle. Six for just us, fucken pathetic. Don't they know we're Riddicks?"

Her father shook his head. "Hey, she does_ not_ get that shit from me."

No one believed that for a second. She was Richard B. Riddick in a pint sized version no doubt about it.

"DUCK!" Rafe screamed pulling him by his arm. "Yaz get down!"

Then it looked as if she'd been thrown up against the wall she was so straight. She was heaving and her face twitched. "Rafe, tell us what happened."

"T-th-uh leader shot Yaz. Oh god she's dead…" she said her eyes squeezed shut. She was panting bordering on hyperventilating. "No!!!!!!"

"Raphaella, It is over now. Listen to the sound of my voice…" he crooned and soon she calmed. But he couldn't say that for the people watching. Jack was in tears, Riddick and Layne paced and David sat close by his fist in his mouth.

"Tell me what you see." He asked quietly.

"Nothing but spots. But I smell blood, it's hot and sticky. She's not holding my hand." She whimpered. "Oh Yaz, no Yaz. I was supposed to die, he shot at me. He picked me and smiled. Not you, you're so pretty not me…"

"What happened is done child, what happened next?" Salim asked calmly.

"I closed her eyes." She said flatly.

Jack broke down. Kalifa walked her to the beach wall and Riddick shot him a thankful glance before they disappeared into the night.

"Tell me what they did?" he asked next. David looked up at Layne who wanted to kill something. Riddick stood there with his arms crossed a hard line gracing his face and his silvery eyes shimmering against the torches.

"He looked at me. He smiled at me and looked at her." she said calmly. "I want to kill him. I want to rip his guts out with my bare hands. I want to feel the hot sticky blood so badly."

_That's an idea kid. That's a good fucken idea…_ her father thought looking at Salim as if he was going to explode.

"What did he say?" Salim asked running his hands over his tired face. Everyone was so tense and it would not get better.

"What the fuck are you looking at? said to me." she said laughing nervously. "My answer in my mind was ---a dead man. Then he said, You are very pretty." She said flatly once again. "I like pretty."

"I'm not pretty. I told him. But he didn't listen. He pulled me away from her and touched my braids. He made me sit in his lap. It was hard." She said shuddering and Riddick nearly lost it all.

"He said all pretty girls like to sit in his lap. That he would make a lot of money off me." she told them completely devoid of emotion. "Baba, I don't want to be pretty."

"Sh, child, it will be all right." Her Baba Salim told her. "He cannot hurt you it is in the past."

"The others got scared. I could smell it on them and that made him angry." She started. "I felt the others outside the walls. The army guys were coming. But they couldn't save her, I was supposed to die not her. I tried to pull her down but that stubborn little idiot wouldn't listen and I killed her. I killed her. Why couldn't I have died instead then mommy wouldn't cry."

She began to cry, racking sobs of guilt and grief. But Salim calm as he always had been soothed her with his words.

"None of this was your fault Raphaella. Remember that. Those evil men did this and not you." he told her calming her agitation.

"How did you know that they were mercs?" Salim asked at waving Riddick to calm down.

"One of the skinny ones said they were going to split the bounty 100,000 to lure out daddy. Fifty for each of us. I'd never do that. I love daddy."

Riddick was feeling murderous. Salim doubted any of the men in the room felt particularly good. "Raphaella, my heart, you are almost finished. What else happened?"

"I got up when they started fighting. They were growing impatient. They were speaking in Arabic, I knew that, but they didn't." she smiled a goofy smile and Riddick exhaled loudly.

"Good, you are a good student my heart, but you must tell me what they were talking about."

"Get the Riddick girls, beat and torture the boys until they talk. He wants them alive and unbreached. Payment for Toombs."

Riddick looked at Salim who looked at Janis who knew that it had to be The New Mecca Pilgrim Authority that had put the bounty out.

"That mother fucken son of a bitch." Muttered Riddick as he paced like a caged animal. Salim motioned for his silence and continued.

"One more my heart. What happened after the children refused to give you to them?" he asked standing near her but keeping a safe distance.

"I heard it before I saw it. I watched the leader and he looked at me. I didn't like the way he looked at me. He made me want to be a boy, just like mommy said. Some men look at you that way and that it's bad when they do. That's why she pretended to be a boy."

The nine year old inside her didn't understand the perverted appetites of some men, but the woman, the grown woman inside her did. "NO!" she said crouching down. Her scream was so loud and torturous that Riddick rushed to grab her. "MY EYES!" she grabbed at her head and tried to claw at the pain she remembered...

"That's all I can take old man." He gruffed pulling her to his chest. "No more."

"I'm sorry daddy. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She kept repeating after Salim brought her out of it.

"Sh," he said rocking her back and forth. "its not your fault Rafe, it's not your fault. I love you kid, remember that."

"I know." She said in a small fractured voice. "He looked at me and shot her."

"Don't think about that now." he commanded. But that's all she could think about. The look on that man's face when he took pleasure in her pain.

"Daddy?" she asked looking up at him, her unseeing eyes lifting towards his cheek.

"Yeah squirt?" he asked daring anyone to come near him.

"I want the shine. Tell him I'm gonna do it."

They all looked at her astonished she'd consent after all this time.

"You sure?" he asked sitting next to her.

"Oh yeah." She told him. "Because that motherfucker's gonna pay for Yaz."

No one would dare tell her no, not when they all felt the same way.

"That's my girl." Said her father.


	6. After thoughts

**To eternalcelestial: baby you gotta good eye. **

**If you remember and Rose will attest seeing how she had a Toombs fetish for so long, Toombs is dead.But, the bad guys are still out over a million in credits. So, think kiddies and email me your theories. **

**I have to say chappie 5 was hard to write. As a Jack, seeing her mother so unglued made me nuts. **

**Riddick is gonna go postal, I can feel it in my bones. **

**Now, all of you who have theories, can email me, just check the profile. **

* * *

Dr. Janis took a quick read of Rafe's vitals only to have her flinch when she came near her. Riddick still had a tight hold on her and it seemed to the old doctor that father was even more upset than his daughter.

"Riddick, Jack needs you." she suggested allowing her the chance to administer a sedative for Rafe.

His face was grief stricken all over again and he looked down at her leaving his departure up to her. Janis could always tell Riddick's emotions. He never could fool her, not even when he tried and succeeded with others. Janis had seen him in many lights, this the most distasteful. She wanted to take all their pain, but knew sometimes you couldn't fix everything.

"Go Daddy, I'm better now. Thanks. Mommy needs you." Rafe said touching his cheek and kissing it. "Please…"

Riddick ruffled her hair and kissed her forehead looking at David with an unspoken request.

_Stay with Rafe. Take care of my little girl while I'm gone._

He obeyed and allowed Janis to tend to her namesake. "You look a little upset. This will help you." she told her injecting Rafe's arm with a syringe. "You'll be calm in a few minutes."

"Then you need to give that to my mother. I can still hear her screaming in my head."

The others looked around and heard nothing. "Rafe, it's quiet." David said sitting by her. "No one's screaming."

"She'll need help to bed in a few minutes." Janis told him motioning the sleeping sign.

"I felt the air move. I know it's gonna knock me out Janis." She said rolling her eyes.

"Can't put one over on you, can I?" she said kissing her and walking towards the beach.

"Never could." She said feeling euphoric suddenly disoriented again. She decided that she preferred this kind of disorientation to the earlier version. "Damn that shit works fast."

Rafe kept looking around putting her hands to her ears still hearing the phantom cries.

"Come on string bean. Time for bed." He said helping her to stand. "You're remembering her screaming Rafe. She's not doing that now."

"It's all so vivid. I should've died David. It was supposed to be me. I _had_ to go and pull her. I'm so stupid. Mommy…" she said faltering.

He swept her into his arms and carried her through her glass door and put her on the bed. "If I didn't have puke breath I might just kiss you." she said just before losing consciousness.

He groaned as he laid her down and pulled the blankets up. "You always have to have the last word…"

He stood back out in the darkness and waited for the others to come back inside all the while thinking if she had, he just might have kissed her back.

* * *

"She all right?" a deep gravely voice said from the darkness. Riddick had been standing there for several minutes wondering what was going through David's mind.

David's head hung low and he looked tired. "She's asleep. Janis gave her something."

"Yeah, they doped Jack too." He said sitting beside him. "You okay?"

"Honestly?" David said looking up and running his fingers through his hair. "No. Could you be? She thinks she's the reason Yaz is dead. She blames herself."

That was something that tore at Riddick too. "What do you remember that day?"

"We were caught upstairs, we were thrown in a small classroom and two guys had guns on us. No one got hurt, sure they kicked our ass but no one died. I don't think I really understood what she went through until tonight."

"And?" he asked reaching out to Kalifa's oldest boy.

"I wanna fucken kill something."

"Join the club." He admitted laughing sadly. "Fucken mercs, thought they got the message years ago."

"Why's he back anyway?" he asked getting up. Riddick this close always gave him tension because he knew, or had to know that he felt something for Rafe. And if David knew one thing, Riddick was very protective of Rafe.

"That's what we're going to find out. As a family. And as a family, we're going to ghost them all. Once and for all. None of this leaving some alive. Nobody and I mean nobody touches what is mine..." he growled and David got the picture.

"No problem." He said going to leave.

"Not so fast Davey boy." Riddick said in his classic sarcastic taunt. "Have a seat kid. You and I are gonna have a little chat."

_Oh shit._

David knew that Riddick was showing him that he was king and he'd better get used to that. "So." He started.

"What do you want to talk about?" He asked showing him he wasn't afraid. The worst thing he could say was that he couldn't see her.

_That's not true, he could rip your intestines out and introduce you to them._ He thought. _And not even break a sweat._

"I've got one thing to say to you David. I held you the minute you came into this world, and if you hurt my girl I **will** kill you. Slow, deliberately savoring every moment, you understand me?" he said in a low menacing voice.

"Sure." He said shakily.

"Good, now," he started looking up at the moons. Riddick was about to say something when a blood curdling scream came out of Rafe's room.

They both ran inside to see her sitting straight up in bed clutching her pillow and a shiv. "Rafe," her father growled in the dark.

She swiped it in a deadly arc and David caught her arm before she could hurt herself. "Rafe." He said looking at her. "Rafe, it's just a dream."

Riddick looked at David in the darkness, seeing history repeat itself and quietly left the room.

He stood at the door looking at them in the darkness and silently made his way to his rooms. Jack was there.

Jack needed him. And he desperately needed her. He felt so open, so wounded that his soul cried out in pain.

She fell apart, hearing every word, even from the sea wall. It had ripped her apart to think that Rafe felt responsible. They all felt it. He walked past the living room and watched Kalifa sitting with Layne nursing a few beers.

"Go my brother. I'm going to put sonny boy here to bed." He said helping Layne up. "She'll need to have you near her when she wakes."

Riddick had come to love Kalifa never having a brother of his own. He had accepted him unconditionally and been loyal and faithful. The fact that his son was wanting his daughter made him kinda feel good. Trusting their friendship and knowing him the way he did, he walked passed them and to his suite.

"I waited for you." a quiet voice said in the darkness.

"I know." He crooned coming to the chair silhouetted by the moonlight.

"I knew it was awful but not that awful. My god. To think she's felt this all these years." She said starting to cry again. "I never thought it should have been her… Riddick, since the shit with Toombs went down, I never have said a word to you about our old life, what we had to do."

He knew where this was going. "Jack." He started and she stood stumbling into his arms. He carried her to the bed and laid her down next to him. "Sh. Rest."

He pulled her against him wrapping his arms around her and enveloping her with his warmth, his scent, the sounds of his breath against her neck.

"Kill them. Kill them all. Torture them, rip them, cut them, impale them. Do it. Kill them, savage them for Yaz." She said fisting her hands against him. She beat against his chest heaving sobs keeping her from finishing her requests.

"I will baby. I will." He told her vowing that no one would live who had a hand in his daughter's murder.

* * *

"David?" Rafe asked having settled down. She had gone to the bathroom, washed her face, with David's help and brushed her teeth.

"Yeah?" he said sitting on the edge of the bed watching her.

"I hate them for what they did." She said laying on her side. "I hate them so much. Why can't I get passed that? Why can't any of us?"

He sat and thought about it. They were all one big gaping wound. It was as if they had stopped living because they had been torn apart. "Yaz didn't deserve to die and you didn't deserve darkness. Now we are gonna go after them but you have to get better, you have to keep strong. Promise you won't give up."

"You're being awfully nice to me." she said smiling in the darkness.

"Sh. wouldn't want to ruin my rep now so keep that to yourself." He said smiling a little.

"I remember your smile." She told him.

"Yeah?" he asked sitting in the chair next to her bed.

"It was the 'I kicked your ass ha-ha' face." she told him smirking with her eyes heavy.

"Well, there are many different smiles besides that one." He told her trying to calm her so she could go back to sleep.

"David?" she asked yawning.

"Yeah string bean?" he answered looking at her and pulling the covers onto her shoulders.

"You know my dad's gonna kick your ass for this…"

"Yup." _But you're worth it…_

He sat back down smoothing her hair and watched as sleep claimed her finally never once fearing the wrath of Richard B. Riddick.


	7. Time to embrace life

**To Ktyana: The plot bunnies are runniing rampant!!!!**

**To Dragon and to GYMP and Fit MAMA: I am not worthy!!!**

**To Rose: I will not forget Daniel, I promise.**

* * *

Four days later Rafe and her mother had a talk. Jack had kept mostly to herself, trying to find a way to approach her that wasn't threatening.

"Hey." She said finding Rafe on her favorite patch of beach outside the sea wall. The clouds were rolling in and she felt now was as good a time as any to broach that subject they all had avoided until.

"Hi mom. I'm not gonna break." Rafe said looking stronger than she had in weeks.

Rafe was sitting in her black jeans, bare feet and her white tank. "Can I sit?"

"Sure. Mom just say what you need to I'm a big girl." She said patting the sand.

_Just like Riddick…_

"I didn't think you should have died. Really." she said getting choked up. "I was glad you were relatively okay one minute relieved as hell actually, then fuck I saw my other baby laying bloody under a sheet the next. The last thing I was doing was wishing you were there instead of her."

"I know." She said flatly. "But I can't help feeling like it was my fault. That if I did this or that she'd be alive."

"You did the best you could and you were only nine. Shit kid, at nine the last thing you need to be worrying about is trying to keep from dying." She told her putting her arm around her. "I love you Rafe, so much."

"I love you too mom. Tell dad not to beat himself up too much. We've been walking wounded for years. We need to bury this and go on with our lives. Baba says that it will allow Yaz to find peace. He thinks our keeping these wounds open and raw only agitates her in the heaven beyond. And I think, to respect her memory we should start living again. Cause what we're doing isn't it. Would you think that if she were alive and I wasn't that she'd want us to rip our guts out constantly. She died, life has to go on. Fun has to go on. If we don't then we're worse off than she is."

"You may be right." She said sitting watching the wind blow and the surf move, quietly enjoying her company.

* * *

Rafe's cane clicked methodically counting the steps until she reached Kalifa and Anne's house on far right side of the compound looking straight ahead. Her thoughts elsewhere, she didn't notice his approach until he pounced her.

"Asshole!" she shouted looking up as he straddled her. She could feel his tight muscles underneath his t-shirt and her stomach got all warm. He'd flipped her hundreds of times and it never felt like that…

"Be aware." He said sounding just like her Baba Salim. She scrunched up her face and rolled her eyes.

"Let…me…up…" she said furious.

"What if I don't?" he asked smug holding her arms above her head. Leaning close to her cheek he smiled. "What are you gonna do about it string bean?"

"I'll…" she tried to say but his lips stopped any speech she attempted. His kisses seared her skin, assaulting her lips until she melted against him. Small moans of pleasure escaped her despite her protests and she subconsciously welcomed his more fervent assault. His scent, the feel of his muscles and his heated arousal sent her mind reeling.

Cane forgotten, purpose forgotten she wanted only more of him. The warmness that descended from her swollen lips traveled down from her breasts, slammed against his chest down to the pit of her stomach stirring in her such desire that she couldn't form a single thought.

_Holy shit!_

Except that she wanted to get him on his back and give him a little payback. What the hell was she thinking? She hated him! He was an asshole…

_But damn David what the fuck…_

"Rafe?" a voice asked in the distance. "HEY! Rafe, hello anyone in there?"

She snapped back into conscious thought and found that she had arrived at Anne and Kalifa's home. Embarrassed to say the very least, Rafe stood waiting while her Auntie Anne stood in the doorway, a loosely fitting head scarf hiding some of her hair flowing softly against the breeze.

"Penny for your thoughts?" she asked looking at her and wondering what she had been thinking.

_Not only your life Aunt Anne…_

"Uh," flustered, "Nothing. Is David around? It's almost time for our training session with dad."

"He's in the back. You know where he is." She told her looking at her pale face but her red cheeks. "You're sunburned, better be careful in this sun Rafe."

"Yes Aunt Anne. Thank you." she said clicking the cane down the hallway.

David was in the back room doing kata, much like Jack did. He noticed the clicking down the hall and stopped grabbing a towel and wiping his head and face off.

"You should put a shirt on David." Rafe said looking straight ahead.

He could never get over how she could tell such things and often wondered if she could see more than she let on.

He kept looking at her. "Don't stare at me. I don't like it."

"What if I don't?" he asked and she remembered those words just moments before.

She backed up and hit the table. "What's wrong with you Rafe? Shit, I'm not gonna bite. Dad said that you're surgeon just arrived today, two days early."

She looked right at him. Right into his face. "Can you see me, even just a little?"

"And the answer to your next question is, yes, I can see shapes sometimes, deep gray shapes but nothing I can put my finger on." She said smirking. "It comes and goes. I'm not betting the farm that I'll ever see anything like I'm supposed to… Kicking your ass with full sight, that would be an answer to prayer…"

_Running my hands down your chest_…_ Oh Rafe shut the fuck up you perv…_

"You're a freak Rafe."

"Ah, now your true colors emerge." She quipped, "And here I thought you were different from the rest."

"I am, just not around you. You're no different than any other girl I know."

"I guess I can take that as a compliment."

"Take it however you like." He said drying the sweat off his hair. "What brings you all the way down here?"

"Dad wants to train early, he sent me to get you." she told him standing with both her hands on her cane waiting. She wore no sunglasses and her eyes were closed.

"You mean he wants to beat the shit out of me longer today." He smirked.

Her silence was plain enough an answer to him. She rolled her eyes and walked towards him putting out her hand. "Come on stud, time for your ass whipping."

She opened her eyes and smiled like she knew other girls did, just to get him going.

"Stud?" he laughed, "Is that what I am now?" He said advancing on her. She quickly countered his movement and took her cane and slammed it against him like a staff.

"You wish you perv." She said in fighting mode.

"Don't bank on the wishing string bean. You're not my type." He snapped. He loved getting her going but he'd be damned if he'd let her know that.

"What's the matter something on your mind?" she said putting the cane back on the ground. He leaned over grabbed the towel and continued to dry his chest off. "Man smell, ugh."

"Never mind." He said grabbing a shirt and putting it on.

"My aren't we testy today?" she asked walking closer to him as they went out into the large courtyard. "Or is it just my magnetic personality that chaffs your ass?"

"Dad and Mom are fighting over Fatima again." he said holding the towel around hi neck trying to keep his muscles warm.

Fatima Ib Haben Maz was fifteen incredibly gorgeous, and set on marrying Ali, grandson of Dr. Janis. David didn't like the boy, who was lazy and irritating. "She's gonna have to get though uncle Kalifa and he's not about to let her loose."

"She figures if _you_ can have free reign so can she." He told her walking.

"I do **not** have free reign. Not even close." She said sarcastically. "I can't fart without them having a committee meeting about it."

"She is under the impression you do." He contended. She looked very content, unafraid, and he was glad the last few days were very rough for all of them. Baba's regression apparently helped her.

"She's dead wrong." Rafe said walking next to him as they reached the gym. "I'm as free as a caged bird. She can see, she can function without one of these…" she said holding up her cane.

"When can you tell that brat anything? She's spoiled because she looks like my mother so much. And in a few days you will see too. Better than me actually."

"And I look like my dad but you don't see guys lining up to fuck me do you?" she asked putting her hands on her hips.

He didn't dare answer that because that answer _would_ have gotten him an ass whipping.


	8. Never fight when you're pissed

**This is dedicated to GYMP and GYMP alone because I know how that she appreciates a good ass WHUPPING!**

**To all, next chappie is the shine. Then the fun can really start!**

* * *

"You're late, both of you." Riddick scolded standing with Kalifa, Salim, Ali and Fatima. Fifteen year old Fatima was dressed in a pair of black leggings and a tight belted tunic. "Get over here. We've got two kilometers to run before we start sparring."

"Yes Dad." She smirked looking down. They began walking towards the beachwhen Riddick pulled her aside.

"Doc's here." He growled ruffling her hair. "You ready?"

"No, but hey, seeing you will be a treat. I'll finally be just like you." she smirked and he swatted her ass and sent her towards the beach.

They ran until they were all limber and Riddick marveled at how she could keep pace with the others and never have a problem with direction. She would use their bodies as indicators and never strayed from his side, or that of Salim.

Salim penned the phrase, Body-Radar when describing how she could see without having the cane. He used her adaptation and incorporated it into their daily training because she had mastered it so beautifully ignoring such a component to fighting would have been a waste.

"Fatima," Kalifa said looking at his daughter, "next."

Rafe was standing in the ring and Fatima, jealous and cruel with her taunts was an experienced fighter.

She hated Rafe because she was treated so differently. To Fatima, there was nothing special about Raphaella Riddick. She was just the ugly sister of her best friend and one who should have died instead of Yasmine. She hated her with all her heart and even when her father demanded she make an effort to be nice she could not.

Over the last few months, since Rafe cut all her hair off and began to come out of her shell, Fatima, the most beautiful of the children in the compound began to feel as if someone was encroaching on her territory. Even at school she was gaining notice. And once the school year had ended she felt an acute pang of jealousy gnaw at her.

Ali was standing watching Rafe and Fatima got a look at him staring and didn't like it one bit. His staring was the absolute last straw. She charged at Rafe full force and everyone watched as Rafe used her father's deadly form of Kali fighting to slam her to the ground.

"You're loud and slow." She said her sightless eyes looking down at her. "Plus being pissed isn't helping. I didn't do anything to you Tima. Get a fucken grip."

"Again." Kalifa roared seeing that it was jealousy that fueled his daughter. Maybe Rafe would teach her a lesson.

She charged at Rafe again a shiv in hand and moved to cut her. Riddick watched his daughter's eyes closed and her breathing even, move so fluidly out of the way that it was poetry in motion. She flipped Fatima in mid air and watched the shiv fly upwards, grabbing it deftly on the way down and slamming her hard on her back. Leering at her Rafe roared, "I think you need to chill the fuck out Tima. You have NO right to be pissed at me. If you were anyone else, someone I didn't like, I'd of slit your fucken throat. GET ME?"

She spat blood and got up. "Next time, if you don't think before you move, you'll end up on your ass again." Rafe said walking away.

Fatima attempted to brutally attack her. But Rafe's superior radar stopped her dead in her tracks by moving aside and kicking her in the back slamming her against the wall. "BACK off. You have more freedom than I'll ever have so get off this bull shit. And by the way I wouldn't fuck Ali if he were the last man on this planet. So get your head out of your ass. And pay attention, this shit will save your life. The world isn't all pretty dresses and boys copping a feel on the beach when DADDY isn't looking. So back off me bitch or I will cut you just to get that shit through that thick skull of yours."

She took the knife and hurled it against the wall not three inches from Fatima's head. She looked back at them all and said with disdain. "I'm done."

She walked with no cane and left moving silently down the hall her hand against the wall.

No one said a word for several minutes.

* * *

"Hey." A voice said coming from behind her.

"What do you want?" Rafe asked throwing a stick down the dune.

"Man did you fuck my sister up." David said sitting by her. "Remind me not to get you really pissed at me."

"I wasn't pissed." She said matter of factly.

"Janis had to repair three broken ribs and a few strained back muscles." He told her. "Plus Dad grounded her."

"Serves her right. We train to stay alive not to settle grudges, however lame they might be. Like I'd even go near Ali…"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "You were amazing in there. Imagine when you see and do that. Bad ass." He told her taking a piece of sea grass and putting it in his mouth. "You okay?"

"The surgery's tonight." She said looking out into the surf, the suns beginning to wane in the distance.

"You scared?"

"Yeah." She told him. "I'm afraid of what I'll see."

"I would think you'd _want_ to see." He said scooting closer.

"Yeah, I thought so too." She said feeling his leg against hers. She leaned against his should and rested her cheek on his arm and they sat quietly until Riddick's came and got them.

"Rafe. It's time." He said and she got up. "Come on squirt."

David took a deep breath and followed them. "We're doing it on the ship. If you want to come you can. Everyone's gonna wait at the house for now."

"Rafe, it's up to you." he told her as she walked next to her dad.

"Stay, I'll be all right. See you in a few hours." She said and he walked away.


	9. The shine job

**To Rose:**

**Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, glad you enjoyed watching Rafe kicking some bitchy ass, happy birthday to you…**

**Have a great birthday kiddo. Look in the chappie for your surprise birthday gift…**

* * *

Inside the long black car sat Jack and Riddick. Daniel drove them and it was quiet, except for Brahms playing in the background. The music may have been over a millennium old but it still calmed her and Daniel knew that.

She stared out the window and he looked at her feeling and smelling the fear she knew she couldn't hide. "Dad," Rafe began, "how bad is gonna hurt?"

"Bad kid." He told her, "but the good thing is that Janis and the Doc have good meds. Better than I had."

He remembered biting an intoxicant for a few hours and gritting his teeth wishing someone would just ghost his ass. He knew that once back in her bed, doped like he should have been, she'd feel better.

He needed her to believe that it was going to be okay, and partly, secretly he needed to believe it to. Jack had told him of their conversation about moving on and he agreed. It was time to get on with life.

"Okay." She said quietly. He could tell she was scared and he knew there was nothing he could do about it.

"What's the first thing you want to see when you're able?" he asked patting her knee with his hand.

"Mommy, then you." She said looking out the window. "Then I want to see daylight."

"No, not daylight. Doc says you've got weeks before you can tolerate that. Contacts like mine will do it but first you have to get used to seeing the shined way. Train first that way, then we'll get you seeing color again."

"Damn and here I thought I could go and watch the sunrise again." She said sarcastically.

"Soon squirt."

* * *

They arrived at the spaceport and Daniel where two bodyguards walked them towards the ship. In the darkness Riddick felt most at home. He had learned to embrace the light, for years only it holding everything that he hated, but the coolness, the clean crispness of the night was something he'd always treasure.

He'd teach Rafe to enjoy it, to embrace it and feel comfort in it.

"Riddick, how good of you to come finally." He heard Sasha say as he entered the ship. She'd been so modified over the years he barely noticed her irritated tone. "We've been ready for hours."

"Keep your pants on." He growled playfully. He'd never get tired of hearing Jack's voice.

"Dr. Janis and the you know…are in the med lab. Good evening Rafe. Glad you decided to do this. It's very safe. I've made sure that everything is in order."

"Thanks Sasha. Dad been giving you grief lately?"

"Tons, but you know the old softie, he's a sucker for a sexy voice." She crooned getting Riddick to shake his head.

"Stuck up machine." He muttered. "Should have lobotomized you years ago."

"And who would sing to you when you get lonely on those long trips?"

"Shut it Jack." He said absentmindedly. She chuckled and he moved on faster. Through his teeth he said realizing his slip, "Rafe, this is the doc. Janis, let's get this done." He growled sitting in the chair.

Rafe walked over, put her arms out and he pulled her to him. "I love you Rafe, never forget that. This is gonna work. And then we'll learn all about the dark together. It'll be fun."

"Howling at the moon fun?" she smirked and he ruffled her hair. She handed him her glasses and let Janis lead her to the table. "I'm gonna run an iv line Rafe, it's gonna put you under and when you wake there'll be bandages on your face."

The skinny dark skinned doctor stood beside her and smiled. "Young lady, my name is Hafez. I know that it frightens you to do this. But you have much love in your life and seeing, like that man will be so much better than the darkness."

"Okay." She said as she began to drift. "Daddy?"

"Yeah squirt?" Riddick said seeing Janis prepping the restraints. He hated them so fucking much and because he knew it would keep her head still did he allow it.

Nothing was going to get in the way of her seeing again.

"Can we play…hide…and…goh seeeeeeeek?" she slurred barely able to keep her eyes open.

"Yeah, all of us. Layne, Tima, Kalifa, Anne, Ali, Mommy, Baba, even the little guys." He said chuckling. Kalifa and Anne had three more kids besides David and Fatima. They were all under ten and very active. Brendan, the oldest of the little ones would start training in a few months, and his brother James and baby sister Audrey who was three, he suspected would just giggle. Janis' daughter and son in law would watch and smile, but he knew they kept to themselves and that was okay with him.

"Good, I hate to play alone." She said smiling a sedating grin.

"What about David?" he said dying to know.

"He's too much fun to chase… I'll kick his ass he likes that bettttter."

He laughed as she went totally under and he figured letting David stand watch in her room the other night was the right thing to do. She was partial even if she was loathe to admit it. When he had gone to see if she had any more episodes David was asleep in the chair holding her hand and he knew that they would all be alright.

He trusted few people and David and his father and grandfather were the only three besides Jack that he would risk his neck for. Daniel, he thought was a definite fourth he chuckled, thinking how the man nearly shit his pants when he had finally got his hands on him after Toombs.

"It will take two hours. I suggest you busy yourself until then." Janis said as the other doctor readied a machine.

Shining had come a long way from the twenty menthol cools and the knife papa Joe had used on him so long ago.

Riddick sat in the mess and thought about the man who had come to Rafe at the club. They had poured over the video feeds and Jack had worked up a dossier on him and they found nothing. Layne, having missed his training session that day had dug up through a few female friends of his, that Navim Rousseau was a merc from way back that had gone and made himself a nice nest egg and decided after the massacre at the school to make a new name for himself. Jack had remarked quite sarcastically that he didn't seem to worried about someone digging.

"_Fucker's got a lot of capital to play with. At least four to five million." Jack had told him. "If it's the same guy. But I say we ghost him cause he put his hands on my baby."_

He couldn't argue with that. But they had built a life there and killing for that reason only, although satisfying would bring a hefty penalty.

"_All we can do is wait for Rafe." Daniel said looking at the tape. These are grainy because of the light so I can't be sure. I could work on enhancing these but it's the word of a blind girl and a flake. You see where I'm coming from?"_

Jack chimed in smirking as Riddick looked at the tapes over and over.

"_Baby, we can trap him in other ways. Financially, in an alley, you're favorite, by the way."_

He remembered growling as he watched Robbie look at Rafe. _"That motherfucker is gonna talk. Get him back in here Daniel. I don't give a shit how, just do it."_

"_No problem boss." Daniel had said looking at the looks the ex-employee had with the man at the bar._

Riddick stared out into space waiting when a voice pulled him back. "Riddick. Robbie was just a pawn. But the good thing is, he won't be talking anymore."

"What happened?" he asked walking towards the med lab.

"Rousseau got a hold of him after we did and well, that didn't go well." Daniel told him. "They found his body day before yesterday."

"You get it on tape?" Riddick asked wondering how they were going to get ammunition to take him down using the system.

"Oh yeah, like taking candy from a baby. Guys got a woman working for him. Man she's a pro. Long legs, blonde hair, tits I could cry over. We should get her on our payroll. Wonder if we could steal her?"

"Once a merc, always a merc huh Danny boy?" Riddick smirked, "You really need to get laid man."

"Don't I know it." He sighed. "Man even jail bait is looking good."

That did not come out how he wanted it. Riddick immediately assumed he meant Rafe and before he knew it his feet were dangling off the ground and his air was going scarce. "What did you say mother fucker?"

"F—f---rr—aanniie!" he choked. "Frannie man, let go…"

Riddick dropped him like a sack of potatoes. "Sorry. Been edgy lately."

"Ya think?" he said trying to clear his throat. "Jeez, man do you think I have a death wish? Pussy is good, but not _that _good?"

"You trying to say Rafe isn't good?" He roared at him invading his personal space.

"No, she's probably fantastic…wait… anything," he said putting his hands up defensively, "I say is gonna get me a beating. Back it up. Frannie, hottie from the club, air head with a great rack?"

"Yeah, seventeen and very young." He growled.

"Rafe off limits, that's a given, I'd like to live my life breathing on my own thank you." He said relieved Riddick wasn't going to rip his intestines out.

"Good. Keep it that way." He said as he watched both doctors come out of the med lab.

"She's got incredible optic nerves. Completely free of scar tissue. Can't explain it." Hafez told them. "Best shine I've ever done. Thank you for your payment in advance. Move her in an hour, then give her pain medication for a few days. These contacts, in her natural color can be worn in a week. But I suggest she learn to see with her natural lenses first, but you of course know this."

"Thanks Doc." Riddick said shaking his hand. "How long before she can tolerate sight without the bandages."

"Saturday." He said, and that was less than two days from now.

He departed and Riddick smiled a relieved lopsided grin as he felt Daniel slap her shoulder and a relieved hug from Janis.

All at the same time they said nearly laughing, "Happy birthday Rafe."


	10. Happy Birthday Rafe

The door was closed. It was pitch black. The only people in the room were Jack and Riddick each sitting on either side of the bed. Rafe's face was calm and she was deeply breathing.

She'd been sleeping for nearly six hours and no one dared come near them. The sun had risen and Jack had the boys put up blankets to cover the window. She didn't want to risk anything. No light, nothing except candlelight.

"Do you think we did the right thing?" Jack asked holding her hand. She smoothed the hair away from her face and smiled because Rafe looked so calm.

Janis had Daniel and Riddick bring her back while it was still dark and she kept her sedated with morphine just to make her comfortable.

"I did it to survive, I didn't have the luxury of good pain meds and you." he smirked his silvery eyes glinting in the darkness. "But yeah. I think it was a good thing. When she wakes up she's gonna hate me. Jack, it burns like a motherfucker."

A small voice broke the silence that followed his admission, "Daddy?" Rafe croaked feeling like her head was on fire.

"Hey kid." He said and Jack smiled. "Mommy's here too."

"Is it dark?" she asked feeling her face with her hands. "It hurts so bad. I can't stand it…"

"Yeah." He said in a low growl. "You're tough. Hang on."

"Take the bandages off." She demanded sitting slowly up in the bed. "I gotta scratch. It itches so bad."

"No Rafe, Doc said two days." Her father announced trying to get her to lay back down.

She wanted them off now. She wanted to see, to know to be normal again. She wanted to claw at her eyes. They hurt worse than when she got blinded.

"How long did you wait when you were in the slam?" she asked irritated. He nodded to Jack and she got the syringe.

"I woke up and tore the bandages off. But it was them or me Rafe, you have the time to let your eyes heal."

"I know my body daddy. Let me see you." She contended looking towards the sound of his voice.

"Trust me Rafe, you'll see soon enough. The Doc says it went perfect. No scar tissue left. Take the two days." He ordered.

"No." she growled insistent. He signaled Jack. She started to thrash against his strong arms and he was surprised at her strength, but only briefly realizing he had felt the same way soon after having it done. He wanted out, he wanted to see. But he wasn't gonna let her hurt herself worse by scratching at the raw corneas.

"Sorry squirt, this is for your own good. Say hello to Mistress Morphine." He said holding her arms long enough for her mother to dose her.

* * *

Sundown on the second day was torturous. She could feel the temperature drop and knew that the suns had begun to set. Despite the jovial atmosphere due to her finally becoming an adult, and the party to commence when the moons rose, Rafe was a bundle of nerves.

"Hey Kid." A voice said behind her. "You ready?"

"Well DUH. I've been ready since I woke up." She said sitting in the courtyard.

Riddick led her from the bench in the to the living room where everyone sat quietly. She could hear them trying to be quiet and contain their excitement and she smiled. "You guys!"

Around her were Layne, Janis, Jack, Baba, and Frannie, who had been granted access to the fortified compound as a gift for Rafe's birthday.

"Now," Riddick said as Jack handed him one of his sharpest shivs. "It's gonna be very disorienting at first."

It was pitch black and everyone stood in anticipation of Rafe's first moments of sight in almost a decade. And no one wanted as much as Riddick. He could appreciate the choking panic accompanied by blackness. But in the years since his shine, he had come to embrace it, be comforted by it and use it to his advantage.

He would teach that to her, gladly.

"Ya think?" she said shaking a bit as his knife sliced back and forth against the gauze. She stopped him just short of taking it off. "Wait…I'm scared."

"I know. But the worst is over." He said remembering the pain, the disorientation, and the fact that he had no one to show him what to see and how to grow accustomed to the darkness. "Now, you can see em sneaking up on you in the dark."

Jack stood behind Riddick her hands over her mouth, attempting to contain her excitement. Slowly, Riddick unwrapped the bandages around her eyes and took some alcohol and swabbed the protective jelly Janis and Hafez had put to keep the lids closed. "See, there you are, all cleaned up. Don't expect much at first. It's way different than anything you're used to."

She laughed, a hearty sarcastic laden laugh, "Dad, I've been blind for the last seven years, anything is better than this."

Everyone else joined her. "Okay, you ready?" he asked looking at Jack. "Open them slowly. You'll see shapes differently, kinda like outlines at first. You'll get used to it."

She tentatively opened one eye and Riddick chuckled. He remembered his first moments in the darkness. "Easy now."

He watched as a silvery glint looked towards him. "Good, now open the other one."

When her both eyes were open she squinted unsure of how exactly she'd be able to move around. He noticed a change in her breathing and felt the apprehension rise in her. "Easy squirt, this is normal."

She began blinking faster. Her eyes teared and he lovingly wiped them knowing deep in his heart that it had worked. Everything had worked perfectly.

"Normal?" she scoffed. "You've got to be kidding me. You seeing like this is normal?"

"To me it is." He chuckled. "Stand up, you're gonna have to sooner or later."

She didn't move but grabbed his hand. "Daddy, look at me."

As everyone witnessed this intimate display, knowing how Riddick adored his daughter, no one breathed or said a word, except Fatima who rolled her eyes in the background.

"Beautiful." he told her sitting on his knees and staring nose to nose. "Hey beautiful. Tell me what you see?"

"A Stubbly head." She said touching his peach fuzz. "You need to shave. Gotta keep up the image, huh. Heat signatures. But you look like an x-ray, a really messed up x ray…" she looked behind him and smiled.

Tears started to fall as her eyes drifted upwards to someone behind Riddick's right shoulder. Barely able to say the words, she heard herself say, "Hi mommy."

Jack started to cry. Janis, who had been silent teared up as well. "YEAH! Fucken A!" shouted Layne.

Then everyone came around her giving her hugs. Tears of joy, and relief were all over the room and no one was immune to the scene that unfolded before them.

"Happy birthday Rafe." Her father said smiling a toothy grin.

Shouts of HAPPY BIRTHDAY started all around as she ran her fingers through her hair as she stood up.

She wobbled and tried to steady herself. "OK," she said falling over. "Walking around like this highly overrated."

The laughter felt and sounded great as David watched from the doorway. He didn't want to intrude no matter how much he wanted to. Riddick shot him a glance and smiled triumphantly.

Holding a beer he raised it seeing the relief wash over Riddick's face. "Happy Birthday string bean." He called from the doorway.

"Where are you?" she asked jerking her head around as Jack slowly lit candles bathing the room in warm soft light.

"Come and get me Rafe. Oh, by the way, catch." He said throwing something at her head and without even flinching her hand reached up unseeing and caught the box. "I'll be _seeing_ ya." He said walking out winking at Jack who smiled a broad gloriously happy smile.

The laughter at his comment was unrestrained and very welcomed. Layne nearly fell off the couch and Kalifa slapped his hands together.

"Open it!" Frannie said finally coming towards her. She had been silent until then and when she spoke Rafe's face changed from apprehension to that of pure joy.

"Dad you let her come! Oh man you rule!" she said smiling broadly.

Grabbing air and trying to find her without her eyes she touched her and pulled her in a mad happy embrace. "OH My GOD! You look really freaky Rafe." Fran said smiling. "Can you really see me?"

"Kinda. But is it a good freaky or bad freaky?" She asked as her parents stood back and let her have a few moments of space.

"Wicked freaky." She said laughing. "Come on open David's gift."

Riddick and Jack drank their beer and sat down relieved that she wasn't too disoriented, but then again the true test would be in the light. It was dark now and there was no threat.

Riddick put his arm around Jack and kissed her, slowly, passionately, leaving her not only breathless, but so blissfully happy that she couldn't stop smiling.

Rafe sat in Riddick's favorite chair, a large leather arm chair where a pile of gifts lay. They watched her tear at the box, staring at her fingers holding the paper and a pensive smile gracing her otherwise unmarred face. "Dad it's so weird."

She kept looking around as if looking at the world for the first time. "I can see, man this is a trip. Do my eyes look like yours?"

"Yeah. You'll get used to it kid. Not a bad way to sneak up on people is it?" he asked. "You in pain?"

"Some, but I've had MUCH worse." She said opening the box. In it were a sleek pair of goggles and a note. "Read it Frannie, I can't focus too well yet."

She whispered in Rafe's ear. "Come out, come out wherever you are…"

"Jerk. I'm gonna kick his ass." She smirked as the others gave their gifts.

Janis gave her a scarf and a pair of beautiful ear rings, Anne and Kalifa gave her a beautiful photograph album, one she'd be putting photos she could see in, Baba gave her a hard cover edition of the holy book, in ink not Braille, and her parents gave her a set of gray contact lenses to wear when she was ready, bringing her to full sight once again.

"You guys are too much." She said as they served the cake carried in by Fatima who seemed to have a smirk of satisfaction on her face. The seventeen candles and one more were so bright that when she brought them very close to her face, feigning that she needed to blow them out, she saw that the bright light hurt.

"Sorry." She said sarcastically.

"Like I believe that Tima. So nice to see that all that food you eat seems to go right where you need it." _your ass… _she smirked squinting,

She was livid. "You'll get yours bitch." She muttered under her breath.

"Any time any place." She said glaring at her daring at her to start something. "Or did my kicking your ass all over the gym BLIND, not enough?"

Riddick watched her animal nature bare it's teeth. Jack smiled almost as much as he did. Fatima was a spoiled brat.

Rafe stood. Fatima put her hands on her hips. It was definitely a pissing contest.

"You wanna dance princess?" Rafe said looking malevolently at the tall buxom blonde. "I can do it with my…eyes…closed…"

"You wait. My time is coming Rafe. And you won't have Daddy around to protect you."

"Didn't need him last week, don't need him now. Put up or shut up. I got you're number." She said slowly putting down the gift and walking towards her looking into her eyes with silvery lenses piercing her soul. "Back off or you'll ruin that pretty face."

"That's right. See this pretty face. Keep looking you scarred bitch."

Riddick had had enough of her crap and looked at her father. It was Rafe's day and he wasn't about to let his niece get into it on her birthday.

"Tima that is quite enough." Her father had said sternly.

Rafe walked around the room touching everything and looking at everything in a three feet radius.

Daniel stood in the back beaming. The day was too amazing. "Uncle Danny, have you met Frannie?" Rafe said seeing a man standing in the corner. He smelled like Danny and seeing him for the first time as she clawed at the couch to move towards him was awkward and she stumbled slightly.

"Yeah kid. Don't worry. Go howl at the moon. Someone's waiting for you on the sea wall." He said kissing her forehead. "I'll entertain Frannie while you go and see."

* * *

"Wonder when you'd get out here. Fan club really giving you a hard time?" he asked sipping a beer. "Next you'll be signing autographs, they'll be a tour, and then you'll forget your friends."

"Thanks for the shades David." She said walking slowly without aid towards him.

"Another three feet string bean. You're depth perception is gonna need work."

"Yeah, I keep this up I'll land on my ass." She told him trying to sit down and doing just that. "Shit, I spoke too soon."

"Close you eyes and find your center." He laughed her taking her hand and helping her up.

"I see my sister still hates your fucking guts." He told her dusting off her arms.

"Some things never change." She smirked looking towards him. "Man you got old."

He laughed. "Tall too, but you don't see me complaining."

She moved to straddle the wall and took a hand and stared into his face touching his cheeks and nose studying him. "So, do I pass inspection?"

"Shut up." She said playing with his hair.

"What if I don't?" he smirked and took another swig of his beer. "What's next feeling me up, cause if it is, I'd at least like to return the favor. It's only fair."

"Try it and I'll kick your ass." She said cocking her head sideways staring at every feature of his face.

"You wish." He quipped. "I'm not Tima." He leaned forward invading her personal space.

If it weren't for the fact that she had such incredible radar due to years of intense training or the fact that her reflexes were so attuned to the slightest movement, he would have hit her.

"No," she said nervously. "you're not. Enjoying yourself?"

"Oh yeah." He said making her lean back almost too far. "Reaction time is shitty, better work on that too string bean."

"You're an ass." She quipped pushing him up. She smacked him back when he wouldn't move and closed her eyes trying to center herself against the dizzying sensation of movement.

"Open your eyes Rafe, that's the only way you'll get used to it." he said serious. He put the beer down and grabbed her wrists.

"Don't." she said shell shocked. It was too much. "Stop. What are you doing?"

"Come on." He said dragging her down into the deep darkness of the beach. There was no moon and he plopped her down in the cool damp sand.

"Don't you leave me out here." She shouted as his silence and stealth took her by surprise. Panic rose inside her. "I'm gonna kill you asshole. I just got my eyes back what the fuck!"

He moved about fifty feet, slightly out of her range and sat down watching her. She moved and sat on her knees taking deep cleansing breaths.

_That's it Rafe, find your center._

She looked down and listened. The sounds of the surf on the left, the sounds of the house on the right.

"David I'm gonna kick your ass when I find you." she warned cracking her neck.

He sat silent as she finally opened her eyes. Her silvery orbs reflected in the darkness like an animal and she rose scanning the sand. She stumbled not having any points of reference to use and finally saw David laying quite relaxed on the sand, his hands behind his head.

"Took you long enough." He said as she pounced. "See it wasn't that hard. Just takes practice."

Looking down at him she shook her head. "You're a jerk, you know that?"

"No I'm not." He said grabbing her and pulling her down his lips crushing hers in a chaste but possessive kiss. "You like me just fine." he said flipping her on her back straddling her hips. "You like me just like this. Don't you?"

It was several seconds before she realized that she had started kissing him back. "Why did you do that?" she asked her lips swollen and her heart slamming against her shirt.

"I felt like it." he said smug putting his hands on either side of her.

He loved riling her up and leaving her wondering. He loved the feel of her underneath him, on top of him, anyway he could get her. He'd been careful during workouts cause if Riddick had seen, he'd have beaten the shit out of him.

"Do you always feel like it?" she asked listening to him moving away shocked beyond belief.

His laughter was all she heard as she growled loudly and laid back down on the sand in a huff…


	11. Rafe finally stikes back

**This chapter is violent, and shouldn't be taken on an empty stomach. For those looking for a little kick ass, here it is in a nut shell.**

* * *

"Again." Salim shouted.

Rafe stood up spitting blood and wiping it against the back of her hand. In the three weeks they had been training with her using sight, Fatima had thrown her several very brutal beatings, taking pride and pleasure in hurting her.

But in Rafe's mind, that trend was over.

Riddick and Kalifa had been off world, making some additional runs, their freight enterprise being extremely lucrative. Secretly she wished they'd come back so she could get use of her lenses, once and for all.

"Rafe, defend." He said calming himself. David and Layne stood by and watched her regain her center and Fatima smugly moving in for a 'kill' shot clutching a shiv.

_Come on string bean. Feel her move and see it. Feel it first._

"Ready for another one Rafe?" Fatima said sarcastically. She was enjoying her new found strength. She liked being better than Rafe. It gave her confidence.

Defenseless, save for a short staff, Rafe waited for the wind to change and Fatima to move. In the weeks that she'd been seeing, she knew that she'd have to get better if she wanted to not fall prey to that awful man in the club.

He wanted her and she knew it. To kill him she'd have to be VERY good. And if she could kick Fatima's ass, it would be close enough for now.

She moved around, seeing if Fatima's arrogance was gonna show itself. She kept it to herself and when it did and she moved so fluidly that it caught Fatima off guard.

"It's time to play my favorite game." Fatima said with a spiteful air. _Beat the shit out of Rafe…_

"What's that fat ass?" Rafe countered looking at her. "Too much sweets this week Tima? I know Ali likes a little meat to hold onto but DAMN. You oughta know that shit'll go right to your hips."

That did it. Fatima was very self conscious about her body. Bigger than Rafe, she held it well but compared to Rafe's incredibly athletic toned body and perfect hips, she looked dumpy.

She charged her slicing her upper arm with the shiv spraying blood onto the mat.

"First blood, how's that bitch?" Fatima said looking at Rafe who didn't even flinch.

"Good, but understand I've had pain a lot worse than this Tima. You'll have to a lot worse than that to hurt me."

"Still see like a ghost Rafe? Did you realize that red blood is oozing down that arm of yours? Oh I forgot you can't see color can you? FREAK." She spat.

Angrily, Rafe shot across pushing her against the wall with the staff. "Don't ever fight pissed Rafe, you'll get your ass kicked every time."

Fatima pushed her off and laughed. David's hands fisted at his sides and Layne whispered to him. "She's right. Rafe's been fighting pissed all this time. Watch my little sister. She's gonna kick her ass now."

David looked at Layne and his smile indicated that he believed the same thing.

"Rafe," David said looking at her. _Feel it. Find your center. _"Kick her ass."

Rafe looked at her and a grin graced her sweaty face. She blew up and watched as Fatima paced around her clutching the bloodied shiv taunting her.

"You know Tima, I need to thank you." she said throwing down the staff and wiping her hands. "I have been in a sense, fighting blind. I shouldn't be pissed at you, I should love and embrace you. You taught me what_ not_ to do. Thanks fat ass."

Rafe countering with a powerful disarming thrust. Fatima's arm, the one that held the knife went limp, causing her to yelp in pain. "BITCH!" she screamed as they wrestled to the ground. Rafe, who had had enough, slammed her fist across Fatima's face, knocking her unconscious.

"ENOUGH!" A loud booming voice roared from the doorway. Riddick and Kalifa stood there mouths agape at the blood sprayed all over the mat and their children beating each other senseless.

"What the fuck is going on old man?" Riddick said as he watched Rafe get up and walk to the side of the mat clutching her arm.

"These two need to work out this aggression. I merely let them." He said calmly.

"Okay," he said seething. "Someone throw some water on that one, and take this one, to get that arm stitched."

Kalifa, silently pleased Rafe had finally taken his daughter down, walked over with a bucket and threw it on her waking her. "Hi dad." She said sitting up.

"Hello. Do you mind telling me what the hell you thought you were doing cutting Rafe? This is training not real world." He said helping her up. "She is not your enemy. She's the one that'll save your ass if it came down to it. You'd better remember that."

Nursing her bruising jaw, she said humbly, "Yes Father."

He walked away with Fatima and Layne approached his father. "What the fuck's been going on?"

"You won't believe it. She's fucking amazing now. Moves faster, more controlled and damn if she can't tell what move we do before we do it, and she does it with _her eyes open_." Layne said full of pride.

"Where's your mother?" he asked smiling. _That's my girl._

"Laying down. She's been feeling sick for a few days now." Layne said concerned. "Not eating much, crabby. She even stopped doing kata in the mornings."

Riddick's glare was evidence that he was very concerned. "Did she see Janis?"

"I dunno. But when I asked her she smiled and said she'd be all right in a few days." He told him cleaning up the weapons.

Riddick turned and marched into the house putting his coat down and barreling through until he reached the terrace. "Jack?" he roared.

"Out here Riddick." She said in a calm, clear voice.

She looked a little pale sitting under a blanket and reading a book. "Layne said you were sick. What's wrong?"

He knelt beside her taking her hands in his and kissing them. "Calm down big guy. I'll be fine, just a little morning sickness."

He removed his goggles in shock wanting to see her eyes with his own. "You sure?"

"Yup. Janis confirmed it, and I thought you should be the first to know. You're gonna be a daddy again in about five more months. I'll have you know, Janis said it's a boy," she told him as he pulled her roughly into his arms kissing her forcefully, "and a girl…"

"Twins again?" he said laughing.

"She said furyan males determine how many so this," she said looking down at her belly, still flat and tone, "is all _your_ fault."

He laughed so loudly and unabashedly that she joined him. He lifted her into his arms and brought her inside laying her down on the bed and nuzzling her with his rough unshaven face.

"How did the run go?" she asked as he pulled off her shirt and noticed the already fuller breasts.

"Mmm. Good, no problems. Took 750,000 and a new contract." He said kissing the valley between them and smiling. "God you smell delicious. I missed you."

"Missed you too, but I bet you didn't miss the vomit fest… That was _so _much fun." She told him moaning against his touch.

"Tima and Rafe have been really going at it." he said moving to her belly. He was so proud, so excited but her words brought him back to the present situation.

"That's a pissing contest I want to see ended." She said sitting up on her elbows.

"Done." He said quietly as he undid her jeans. "Look, Layne says it's made Rafe stronger."

"Yeah, and minus any broken bones, I'm sick of seeing her hurt. Do it." she demanded. "I don't care."

"No problem baby. Come here and tell me you love me." he growled seductively as he took his shirt off and crawled back up her creamy flesh.

"No, you're gonna have to make me." she said smiling mischievously.

"Good, I just love a challenge." He said moving down to the one place he knew she couldn't resist.

* * *

David walked Rafe silently down to Janis and Salim's house and he knocked on the door. Janis opened it and shook her head. "More wounded. May Allah give me strength. What have you done to yourself now."

"Shiv." She said looking down.

"That will require stitches. Go sit her in my office David." She said walking to the back of her house and putting on some tea.

She sat down on the table and rolled her eyes. "Hey." She said to him since they'd been silent all the way from the training building to Salim's.

"Hey." He replied. It was really the first words they had said to one another since her birthday and he felt awkward. He'd been scouting the club scene with Layne and keeping his distance and they both felt it.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm tough. She's just my punching bag." She told him wincing when he went to look at it.

"More like the other way around. That boo boo looks pretty bad this time."

"You wanna _kiss_ it and make it better?" she quipped seeing if he'd bite. She missed him and knew that he avoided her because he'd kissed her that night.

"You want me to string bean?" he said moving to between her legs and holding her knees.

"What if I did?" she said smirking moving away a stray hair with her good arm.

"Then," he said leaning closer, watching triumphantly as Rafe closed her eyes, "you'll have to wait cause here comes Janis." He said smiling as he thumped her nose with is fingers.

She groaned in frustration and he leaned back sitting on a chair and smiled. _Later for you kiddo…_

"You would think that Riddick wouldn't allow such barbaric fighting while he's gone." She said removing the towel that David had pressed on her arm. "Good God! This is gonna be messy. At least a dozen stitches. Thank Allah that Riddick keeps his knives sharp."

An hour later, after David had gotten Janis some tea, Rafe was the wearer of twenty two stitches. She had been given a local to numb the area and a bandage, plus a few pain pills to get her through the afternoon. "No fighting until I remove the stitches. I'll see you in a week."

"A week?" Rafe said whining.

"More if you don't listen." She chided shooing them off. "David take her home."

"Yes Janis." He said escorting her by the good arm.

Walking towards the house, David put his arm around her and consoled her. "Did you see Tima? It's gonna be at least a week before she's up and around again. Plus with your dad back, you can sit and watch him beat the shit out of us." He said smiling.

"There's always that. I did love a good ass whipping." She said sarcastically.

"I knew you liked that." He smirked looking at her. She only came up to his chest and he liked seeing her smile.

"You know it gets me hot watching my dad beat the shit out of Layne." She quipped rolling her eyes.

"Whatever." He said smacking her ass and laughing.

"Hey." a low gravely voice said from the kitchen counter. "You kids hungry?"

Both David and Rafe smiled knowingly, remembering every time that Riddick returned from a run he'd first, see Jack, spend time with Jack, then rummage through the kitchen starving. "Sure Dad. Just got stitched up and I'm feeling numb and hungry. What about you David? What could _you_ eat?"

He shot her a look. "I'm good, for now. Maybe later."

The subtle nuances of their conversation was not lost on Riddick who gave them both a look that meant 'knock it off.'

He made Rafe a sandwich and then one for David and ate in silence sliding a case across the table. "You earned it kid. What I saw today was pretty impressive."

The lens case. "Oh shit. You're kidding."

"Nope." He said walking over and ruffling her hair. "Go try em out. But first," he said sniffing. "Wash up."

Her face was a big smile and he smiled back eating. "Thanks Daddy."

She ran off, coming back for the last part of her sandwich and darting towards her room. "Want a beer?" he asked David.

"Oh yeah." Was his only answer.


	12. Back to Refuge for a little R & R

* * *

Loud techno thrash music a la the Matrix I soundtrack reverberated from Rafe's rooms. She was showering despite the bandage and on the counter laid her contact lenses, a new set of bandages and her favorite shades. 

Marilyn Manson screamed at the top of his lungs as Jack entered her suite. She loved that music and despite the fact that she had two grown children and two more on the way, she felt as young as she looked.

"Twenty five…tops mom." She said as her mother entered the bathroom.

"Aren't these lights a bit bright? Your father never showers in light greater than 40 percent. This is what 60?" her mother asked as she adjusted the choker and blood red skirt attached to a slimming black corset. She had her hair up and Jack could see the tattoo she bore just under her hairline.

"55. But that's okay, I can tolerate it. I wanted to see how much I could take without pain. Plus I like the fact that I can see at all. Can you throw me that towel?"

"Nice bruises kid." She said looking at her lower back. "You sure you want to go to the club tonight?"

"Absolutely. Layne says our mystery man has been there every Friday like clock work and tonight, I get to try these out. Positive id and we're set. Daddy wants me to make sure before he kills him and everyone in his organization." She said pulling on a pair of black panties and then a pair of fishnets. She rewrapped her upper arm and secured it with some tape while her mother smiled at her.

A black mini skirt and high heeled boots finished the look with one of her mother's vintage crimson skin tight T-shirts with long sleeves. "You look tough kid and absolutely gorgeous, is there something you need to tell me before your father has a coronary?"

"No." she said smiling. "My brother and his faithful sidekick will be my leash tonight, so don't freak. But I'd like a bit of help with makeup since everyone will see I finally have eyes."

Jack laughed watching the butterfly emerge from the cocoon. "No problem kid. You just have a good time. By the way, I won't be able to wear this much longer."

Jack smoothed her corset and adjusted the long flowing skirt sadly sighing. "What's wrong?" Rafe asked as her mother put the lenses in her eyes.

"You'll see in about 5 months." She said as Rafe closed both the eyes to adjust to the feel of the lenses.

"NO! When?" she asked rubbing her eyelids. "I can't believe it! A little baby! AW mom that's awesome!"

"Open up and tell me what you see." Rafe was almost afraid of letting her eyes see what only her heart could have remembered. She looked at her hands first and then lifted her eyes towards the sound of her mother's voice and cried.

Tears of longing, want, desperate need to see her again poured down her face as she saw the deep reddish browns of her hair, the green and brown of her hazel eyes and the fullness of her lips, that she always touched whenever they would speak. "Mommy, you haven't changed a bit. No one bit. Man, if being a furyan is looking this good. Thank you DADDY!"

"Thank me for what?" a deep voice said as the last song ended. "Music off."

"Furyan DNA. Man you both look like my older sister and brother not my parents. Damn dad no wonder Frannie got all mushy. You're both hot!"

He smirked at his daughter and started to laugh.

"Jack tell you about the babies?" he said as she threw herself at him.

"BABIES?" she shouted as she looked at her mother. "I assumed one, but babies! MAN!"

"Twins due in 5 months." His voice told him but his eyes were looking at her outfit. "Rafe you're not going out dressed like that."

"What you don't like the skirt?"

"Is that what you call it?" he laughed. "Jeans, now. You can't fight in a rag like that."

She thought about it and walked to the closet. "Dad, if I didn't love you to pieces I'd go out dressed like Fatima."

"If you dressed like her I'd beat your ass." He said kissing his wife on the neck.

"EW! Can you _not_ make out in my bathroom. GROSS!" she shouted and they laughed. "Mom don't forget my makeup."

"Sure sweetheart. Be ready in 5." She said feeling Riddick up his sides.

"Five is a little light on time don't you think Princess?" Riddick crooned in her ear as he nipped it.

"Shut up and kiss me big guy."

* * *

Layne stood in David's bedroom wondering what was wrong with him. He sat on the edge of the bed ready to go and woo some of the more willing females at Refuge, much like he did every weekend. David on the other hand looked more like he'd rather not go. 

"What's wrong man?" he finally asked as David put on a pair of blue jeans and a black shirt.

He groaned running his fingers through his hair. "Ah," Layne said smug. "I seen you might not measure up to the blind version, now the shined version…Man, if I ever smelt arousal, and I have… my sister's got it for you. Don't doubt it. Her friends are playing tonight. She's gonna be psyched."

He forgot that Rafe sang as well as her mother and were friends with Wicked Sisters, a girl band she loved to sing with when they hung out. Her mother had booked them a month ago and it was their night. "A little punk chick is just what you need brother. And if I didn't trust you I wouldn't let you have my sister. Treat her right or it's your ass."

"Thanks." He scoffed. "You'd be when, right after your dad then your mom?"

They both laughed and walked to the door where David lost all ability to speak.

"Now who's taking forever to get dressed?" a soft voice said from the door. In her hands were a pair of shades, a cane and a leather long coat. "Which of these things do you think I don't need?"

To day that David was thunderstruck by seeing her gray eyes looking into his, was an understatement. He had gotten used to her silvery orbs over the last few weeks and before that it was milky white ones that captivated his heart. "Damn little sis, you clean up better every week. Fatima's cursing herself isn't she?"

"I suppose." She laughed looking at her brother and prowling around him. "She's fuming. But hey, I just got dressed."

David cleared his throat and smiled. "Who did your makeup, mommy?" _he just had to go there._

"Who buttoned your pants there stud?" she said looking down at his crotch. "Just checking…"

Layne shot him a glance that said, 'man I'm glad I'm not you.'

"Are we ready?" David asked looking down at Rafe who looked up at him, all animal.

"I was born ready baby; let's go have fun." She told him turning and throwing him the cane. "Toss that, I won't be needing it any longer."

His smirk accompanied Layne's as they nodded in agreement. "Lead on string bean, I'm just enjoying the view."

"You do that." She told him winking those perfect gray eyes.


	13. Sighted beginnings

_**I see Rafe is having some nasty lil thoughts in her head. will we be expecting to see some smut from those two as well-RoseZ**_

**_i so want david and rafe to hook up. mwha. does this mean that toombs is involved or is it complicated...-eternalcelstical_**

**Smut for you, just a taste. Rafe vs. The blonde Adonis David, who wins? You be the judge!**

_**How many are left of his family, is it just him now? hmm... what if Farad isn't the main bad guy. No one would be stupid enough to go after Riddick after that massacare-RoseZ**_

**The answer to this question lies in this chappy baby! Yes, Rose baby, there are some people that fucking stupid...**

_**GOD THIS IS GOOD! I love Rafe and David! Hilarious- Hyper Vyper**_

**Me too. Reminds me of two others long ago... but don't count those two out either...**

For those who love the music at Refuge, that is all me, being Jack. love that techno thrash music from kick ass soundtracks.

* * *

The car was packed. Besides David, Layne and Rafe, two bodyguards kept them company. In the car behind them were Jack and Riddick. He wasn't taking any chances. Especially since the syndicate was checking out his club, and the three others they owned.

"Daniel, why the army tonight?" Rafe asked looking at the two big guys sitting up front armed to the teeth.

"Boss' orders squirt. I just do like the man says. He's a good judge of what's coming down the pike." Daniel said driving.

"Whatever." She said rolling her eyes putting back the disc player. She tapped her boot the pulsing beat and closed her eyes.

When they arrived, David touched her hand and she nodded turning the music off. Even behind the lenses he could see her animal nature coming through. He liked the shined version of her eyes, just as much as this, and it was when she was unrestrained and free that he appreciated her sight the most.

"Ready David?" Layne said as he walked in front of them, flanked by bodyguards. Onlookers stared thinking them some sort of celebrities as David grabbed Rafe's good arm and pulled her along passed the doors and into the darkened club.

The pulsing tones of Nine in Nails blared in their ears and Rafe smiled. She loved her mother's taste in music. Terrible lie blasted through the speakers. The Live version from the 1990's. Very retro. Trent Reznor was the epitome of cool.

_Terrible lie…_

_Terrible lie…_

David knew Rafe's taste in pre-destruction earth music. She loved the gritty rough feel of the singers, the pulse of the techno beat and the dark themes. She smiled at him and sang in his ear…

_Don't tear away from me I need you to hold on to_

_Don't tear away from me I need someone to hold on to_

_Don't tear away from me I need you to hold on to_

He smiled at her as she pulled his shirt against her and he followed. "Tease."

"You wish Davey boy." She quipped walking to the bar. A new bartender stood and asked her what she'd have and she laughed. "Valysian fire whiskey for this one and Aquilian fruit nectar for me."

"To sighted beginnings." He said clinking his alcoholic shot to her non-alcoholic.

"To everything." She said downing the shot and smiling. To the outside world, she was doing the same shot he was an no one was the wiser. Both slammed their shots down and laughed looking at Layne who was mysteriously occupied by a leggy red head. "He works fast."

"Don't all you Furyans?" he asked in her ear. "Horny bunch the lot of you."

"You know, I don't know about that." She said smirking. "Hey look it's Mari and Lex, they're in Wicked Sisters." She finally seeing even shined, found her friends soon after her sight was returned.

She put on her shades and pretended to be just as she was. They walked over and smiled at David. "David." Mari said, looking at him like a side of beef. Her spiky black hair and dark makeup looked very Goth and he hated it. But Lex, blonde and gorgeous wasn't even interested.

"Mari." He said coolly.

Rafe got the distinct impression there was more to this little display than what she saw but filed it away for later. "Can we talk to Rafe for a minute? We kinda have an emergency."

"Sure." He said looking away but not going far.

"What's he you're bodyguard?" Mari asked mildly annoyed.

"Actually, yeah. Daddy's orders." Rafe told her smiling. "What's up?"

"We need you to sing. Raze is puking her guts up, again and needs a few extra minutes." Mari said looking at David and scowling.

"High again or what?" she asked looking at her.

"Bad food. Stupid ass needs to learn to not eat in town. Can you? We'll do your favorite…" she begged.

"Go, I'll be back there in a few." She said and both girls giggled and hugged her.

"David." Rafe said looking at him. "Spill it. What's with you and Mari?"

"Nothing. Drop it. She swings the other way." David said nursing a beer.

"I could have told you that." She said laughing. "But what gives?" Then she looked at him staring at Lex. "You didn't try for Lex, that's Mari's girlfriend. Ouch, you still got your balls?"

"Barely, wanna check it out for yourself?" he quipped getting in her face.

"Back it down, just looking after your welfare. Can't go around half cocked." She smirked smiling. "I need to help them out tonight I'll be doing their first song until Raze has stopped puking. Bad food."

"Let me get two of the guards to watch the stage then." He suggested.

"You're not gonna bitch at me for wanting to go REALLY public?" she asked.

"No, cause this is one place where you no one's gonna touch you. Not after what happened to you last time." He told her leaning in. "Knock their socks off."

"Bet your ass." She said kissing his cheek in thank you and running backstage.

He stood for a moment, his hand against his cheek wondering how it could be possible that she could get him rock hard so god damn fast.

* * *

The band took their positions and the DJ, a good friend of David's introduced them, "Tonight, say a big hey how's it hangin for the Wicked Sisters with special guest, HELL CAT!"

The crowd, packing the entire dance floor, stood arm to arm screaming as the drums and guitars began to play.

Riddick and Jack had come down when Layne had told them the lead singer was replaced by someone who had never sung in public before. They were beaming because Rafe had a kick ass voice and these girls were her good friends.

Rafe stood on stage holding the mike attached to the stand as her friends all smiled and started Dangerous Type… ( a throwback from her favorite witch movie, the CRAFT.)

_Can I touch you? Are you out of touch?_

_Guess I never noticed that much_

The crowd went wild and David looked at her and shook his head because she was staring at him. Smiling big and pointing out into the crowd.

_Dream lover alive on a wire_

_Come take me whoever you are._

_She's a lot like you_

_The dangerous type._

_She's a lot like you_

_Come on and hold me tight._

She pulled the mike off and moved with the music enjoying herself as the next chorus started. She was born to be on stage. Even Jack had to agree.

_Inside angel, always upset, keeps on forgetting that we ever met._

_Can I bring you out in the light?_

_My curiosity's got me tonight._

Riddick looked at David who was shaking his head laughing and laughed himself. Man his kids were gonna be the death of him.

_She's a lot like you_

_The dangerous type._

_She's a lot like you_

_Come on and hold me tight._

_In her directors, her shaking hands,_

_keep in shadows till they play dead._

_You wanna crack your cross for a smile,_

_can I take you out for a while?_

**Yeah Yeah Yeah,**

She closed her eyes and sang to the music so part of the group she didn't notice the man who had haunted her dreams staring along with the rest of the male population.

_She's a lot like you_

_The dangerous type._

_She's a lot like you_

_Come on and hold me tight tonight._

_She's a lot like you_

_The dangerous type. (fades)_

The crowd went wild as the Raze joined her on stage and they sang the last chorus together and Rafe bowed to a cacophony of applause. She stage dove into the crowd and was pulled to the edge on everyone's hands and put down right in front of her family.

"WAHOO!" she said shaking her head. "Damn I needed that. David this is my favorite song, let's dance."

Who was he to deny the rock star anything? "What am I your groupie now?"

"Move it." she ordered laughing. David followed looking at Rafe's damn fine ass.

Riddick stood there and shook his head. "I need a fucken drink."

* * *

A cover of one her favorite matrix tunes started and the thumping beat sent the throng into faster pulsing movements. She loved it and she looked up at David with a euphoric smile on her face. "You rocked Rafe, that was fucken awesome." He told her as she waded into the middle.

Powerfully sexual movement began and she put her hands on his hips and looked up. "It felt fucken awesome. About as good as kicking Tima's ass."

He loved watching her move and pulled her to him. She wanted this and he wasn't going to say no. "Damn Rafe. You're gonna fucken kill me."

"No I'm not. Live a little. I ain't going anywhere." She said moving her hips slapping them with her hands. He grabbed her by the lower back and pulled her flush against him. Her eyes shot up to his and she knew the full extent of her dancing… "Baby you gotta a ...wow."

His smirk was all she could get out of him. His hands were at her sides moving upwards pushing against her in a mock mosh. They had so much touching that nothing seemed separate. "Tease."

"You should talk David." She said against his throat as he continued to move against her fast and powerfully. "Keep this up and we've got a problem."

His hand moved to her perfect cheek and held her against his thigh. "I can't see _that_ as being a problem. We've been doing this dance for months. **This** is taking it to the next level." He said kissing her neck. She lost all conscious thought at that point and he felt her nipples hard as rocks against his chest.

He turned her around and pulled her against his hips and moved forcefully with her as the music of Rob Zombie, Dagula came over the speakers. She could feel her heart pounding and the music blaring in her ears. The only other feel was his hands, his hips, that rock hardness against her cheeks pressing him against her. "Let it go Rafe, you know you want to."

"Fuck…" she gasped as the music mixed with his movements made her drunk as hell with sensation. She lost all control and moved her hands up and down his arms egging him on.

The only thing she realized at that point was the fact that she never wanted to be naked and fucking him more than any point in her life.

She moaned against him and allowed his hands to trail underneath her shirt and press against her stomach moving towards her waist band. "Baby, you are so mine."

"I'm not that easy." She said pulling his face to her neck. "You'll have to try a lot harder than that."

The music changed and she ran off smiling like she'd just gotten the last laugh. He chased after her towards the bar and laughed too. "Damn you are gonna kill me."

"Need a little private time there stud?" she said looking down and feigning concern.

"Maybe a little **help** would be nice.." he quipped in return looking down the valley of her breasts to her center.

"You wishbaby."

"Smells like you wish." He said looming. But over his shoulder moved their mystery man. His body language changed in a second..."You're on string bean. I'll be right over there out of sight."

She immediately stiffened and took a breath as David signaled the upstairs office. She looked at the bartender and asked, "Another of the same for me."

"Good evening. I am glad that you have returned. It has been many weeks since you're last visit." He said in his characteristic Arabic accent. _You will be mine, if I have to steal you and hide you away... I will taste that flesh, again and again..._

"Been having some family issues." She said downing the nectar and leaning against the bar so that the cameras could get a view of him.

"I enjoyed your singing." He said smiling. "Another for the lady. I'll have a double of the Aquilian whiskey."

"So," she said tapping her boot against the bar.

"Will you sing at my club? Or prehaps dance?" he asked again. _or perhaps in my bed... _

"No I don't think so." She told him coldly. She looked at his face, his scars, his tattoos, everything that she abhored stood right in front of her. "I don't like you."

"What is there _not _to like? I have been polite, admired you that should be enough." He grabbed her bad arm and she winced and his hand removed blood. He looked at her and suddenly a memory flashed before his eyes of seeing her with blood on her once before.

"Take your hands off me. If you don't right now you'll remove a stump. I have issues with you mother fucker and you don't want to fuck with me."

"I take what I like." He scowled looking at her. A shiv came to his belly faster than he could have imagined.

"Remember this mother fucker..w_hat the fuck are you looking at_?" she said in his sinister tone. "_Girls like to sit on my lap. I'll get a lot of money for you_…"

Then the realization came to him. _The girl from the school… Riddick's child… after all these years… The bounty would be triple now she was of age…Farad's organization would pay money to draw Riddick out…my payment would be her flesh..._

"Back off or I'll slit it off." She told him as his guards came behind him. "Now fuck off before I pull out your…"

Riddick's men grabbed her before she could make a scene. Malcolm, a huge black man had disarmed her easily and carried her screaming up the stairs.


	14. Time to beat feet and bail

Dedicated to Hyper Vyper: action packed. btw look and see if I put you in the story, in male form of course...

* * *

"You must move Mr. Rousseau." A tall man pleaded as scared patrons looked at his bloodied hand.

"Get me to the car Gerard." He said as they hurried them along.

_I can't believe, after all these years…to find Riddick…_

"Are you injured?" Gerard, a heavyset black man asked putting him into the late model car.

"No, we need to call a meeting. Get me ten men, men we can trust to keep their mouths shut. I want that girl, and the father she is protecting." He ordered sinking back into the seat. "We have the location of his residence. I want twice as many ready to take it down, burn it to the ground but kill every one of the men, even the children. I want the girl and Riddick alive. I have plans for them…"

He remembered how her flesh felt in his lap, under his touch and how he wanted to dive in and devour her, even as a child. He realized too late that he had killed the one she held dear, her sister and knew that the bounty was fucked.

He had touched her and in his mind she was his…

Rather than risk getting in worse with Farad on Hellion prime, he decided that he liked the chaos of Talos 4 and melted into the background. Knowing the black market, and the syndicate he slowly took control.

_Should I go after Riddick, deliver him now, after all this time, or just kill him and take the girl… _Such pleasures he would risk death for….

Francine had stood outside the door and heard the man who frightened her talking and knew she needed to get to Rafe. Men were coming and she didn't want anything to happen to her or her family.

She tried to get in and warn them but the bouncer wasn't letting anyone in. She had to warn them.

"Listen you jerk. I know Rafe, something's happened. You have to listen. I know what they're gonna do. YOU HAVE TO LISTEN." She pleaded as some of Rousseau's men heard her and waited back.

"GO home. You can't get in, no one's getting in." the man told her and shooed her off along with countless others.

She took a cab back to her place never noticing two men get in a cab behind her…

* * *

"Let me go Malcolm right fucken now." Rafe said as she kicked and screamed. All she wanted was to rip his gut open and feel the hot sticky blood.

By the time she reached the top of the stairs Riddick was at the door and sat her down. "What the fuck was that?"

"Son on of a bitch put his hands on me." she spat back at his silvery eyes.

"Boss, check the tape. We've got it by another angle." Daniel said queuing up the feedback.

Riddick went to the screens where it all played and sure enough the bastard put his hands on her. "Redress that wound Jack." He said coming to look at her. "Sorry squirt. Pow wow at my place after closing. That motherfucker is a dead man."

"It's the same guy. And he recognized me." she said as her mother looked at the stitches.

"Baby, these are gonna have to be redone." She said to Riddick. "I'll wrap it up but she needs new ones. He was pretty rough."

"Daniel, you and David take her home. Jack, you too. If that fuck wants to start trouble I don't need you guys in the way."

Both girls hit the roof. "Move now Jack." He said looking down at her stomach. It just wasn't her any more.

She cursed herself because he was right. "Come on Rafe, let's get the home fires burning."

"You got it mom." She said glaring at her father.

"Rafe," he said looking at his daughter. "You sure?"

"So sure I'd of gutted the piece of shit for ya." She said confidently.

"Good, go home. Get ready. The shit may hit the fan, it may not. I've got to see what the fuck is going on."

David escorted the women, along with four bodyguards and Daniel in the lead. They were lead out the back door, to the waiting car, and the entire compound was then put on alert.

Riddick paced back and forth knowing that this was going shitty fast. "Lock it down. Now. I don't want any civilians fucked up when this shit goes down."

* * *

"We have a problem." A man with a heavy Arabic accent said over a secure communicator.

"Tell me." Rousseau snapped looking at the latest numbers from his brothel.

"There's a girl, she knows we're onto the Riddicks." He told him.

"Kill her." was all he said.

* * *

"Refuge…" Layne said answering Riddick's private line.

"Layne, thank God." Frannie said out of breath. "You gotta get back to the beach house. That's where they're going. I just heard that bastard telling his men to send guys with guns to kill you all. They're after Rafe." She said fast and out of breath.

"Slow down Frannie, slow down. When did you hear this? Where are you?" he asked and Riddick overheard and came to him. Layne put his hand up and put it on speaker.

"I just got home. You have to hurry." She said hearing something crashing in the background. There was a scuffle, and Layne could hear gunfire.. "DADDY! Ma! No! Hurry Layne. OH GOD!"

Then the line went dead.

* * *

When the car arrived at the compound, Kalifa was already waiting. "What happened Jack?"

"The bastard put his hands on her and she defended herself. Now we've got no time. The syndicate is gonna retaliate. We just have to make sure we either cut and run, or make a stand."

"How much time do we have before they mobilize?" he asked as they walked inside. "A day maybe two, it won't be hard to find us. We weren't exactly hiding."

"We don't have that kind of time." Riddick said running in. "Grab what you can, you have an hour. Get Janis, and all the kids up. We're outa here."

"Mercs. Grab what you can and move your ass." He said walking in to where Rafe was sitting. "Rafe, look at me. This is not your fault. This had to happen some time. Now move." Looking up at David who understood that the time they had trained for had come, a drill they had practiced was now reality, he grabbed her good arm and stood her up. "David, get her packed, then grab your gear. Then, help your mother get the little guys. We meet at my ship."

Riddick pushed a button on a console out in the courtyard and guns of every imaginable size came out in a rack. He handed one to Salim, Kalifa, David and to Jack. He took a holster out, put it on, loaded and set two pulse pistols, then took a large pulse rifle, loaded another one and walked towards the beach. "David, get her ASS MOVING." He roared.

Everyone ran to their quarters while Daniel set the security controls to self destruct. He wanted nothing left when the bad guys got there. "Malcolm, Vyper, Abdullah, you go make sure the women are put into the cars…children and the Doc first. Salim, make sure Jack moves her ass and gets what we need. The countdown is fifteen minutes."

Salim nodded, Kalifa grabbed an extra rifle and moved towards his bungalow and got Janis' children and Ali.


	15. Getting the hell out of Dodge

**Dedicated to Paige, everyone say good things and give the Riddick mojo to her computer….**

**

* * *

Where the fuck was Layne? I can't have this shit going on right now. I'm sitting on the sea wall, all the lights on the beach house are dark save a few inside to make it look like someone's inside.**

In the darkness I'm at home. I know where I stand. But I've lived nearly twenty years in the light, and it lately it reinforces everything I hate. Can't live my life with mercs on my neck. If being in the light is with the mercs, give me the dark every time.

I've got Jack, the babies, Rafe, Layne, so many that are my responsibility. Fuck if I saw _that_ coming. Well, it was nice while it lasted.

"Dad!" Layne says out of breath.

"What the fuck happened?" I ask because he looks like shit. I hand him the other loaded and charged pulse rifle and we both melt into the darkness.

"I went to Frannie's house. Man they killed them. Slit her mother's throat and stabbed her father. I found some blood, but no Frannie.Daniel's gonna be pissed. He really liked her."

Fucken Daniel. I'm shaking my head cause I would have sworn he had it for Rafe. But I can't be bothered with that shit right now. Mercs are coming for my family, and I'm NOT letting them fuck with anything that's mine.

* * *

The beach was deserted except for the birds and the sound of the sea. Inside the beach house, Jack and Salim were throwing together the essentials, anything that couldn't be replaced.

"Jack, we must hurry. I know that you want to take these things but our lives cannot be replaced, these things can." Salim told her standing in the doorway.

She put her jewel box, which held momentos and things from Riddick, her laptop, the book that he had given her and a few articles of clothing. Riddick's bag was already packed by the door, as was the bag of every one of the men including Ali, who was out in the courtyard helping with the children.

"You're right. Riddick has everything I need on the ship and what we can't take we'll buy once we get off this planet." she said looking up and grabbing the pistol. "Take it."

He did and they went out into the courtyard. Anne and Kalifa had Audrey and her brothers. Fatima, pale and shaking had a pulse pistol and a back pack and helped her mother.

Abdullah, Vyper and Daniel were carrying the bags and putting them into a second car.

"Daniel, you radioed the ship?" Jack asked looking at the children, still in their bed clothes. "We need to get them to the car." She said walking towards the back entrance.

"Covered Jack, Sasha's already prepped the bird for launch. I just hope that we've got the room." Daniel said handing his bag to Malcolm who put it in the car.

"Janis is inside the car already, packed and ready, where's Rafe and David?" Daniel asked as Jack looked back at the beach house.

* * *

David and Rafe rifled through her room, throwing clothes, her personal belongings and several books in Braille. He threw her the mini disc, some of her birthday presents and watched her sit on the bed and start to cry.

"Rafe, do NOT start that shit now. We need to move." He said pulling her up. "Grab what you need from the bathroom and move your ass."

"Rafe, you don't own me." she spat way over the edge and not thinking rationally.

He shot her a look that he would always use when he needed her to move. It commanded her to obey. "Move your ass Rafe, don't make me make you. It's crunch time. 6 minutes until this all blows sky high." He shooed her past him to the bathroom and looked at his watch. 6 minutes until the buildings began to detonate.

They had four cars waiting. He counted the people. His parents, her parents, his grandfather and Janis, his two sisters, two brothers, Rafe, Ali, Daniel, Layne, the three bodyguards, and Ali's parents.

19 people. They'd cram everyone inside as fast as they could. "Come on Rafe we gotta go."

She emerged with her back pack loaded, her other bag slung over her shoulder. "I'm ready. Where's my gun?"

"You don't know how to shoot, hell you just got sight three months ago." he told her watching that look he was beginning to hate.

He took a pulse pistol, charged and ready and handed it to her. "Point it that way and pull the trigger, it's been modified to shoot continuously. Rapid fire so don't miss."

"Thanks. Now let's get the fuck out of here." She said moving towards the door.

* * *

Riddick and Layne looked at the beach and Riddick wondered how long before they started coming in from the water. That's what he'd do. Quick, silent and deadly.

"Dad?" Layne asked looking down the beach. "What's that coming towards us. It's too small to be a merc."

Riddick's silver eyes scanned the beach and he saw a small figure coming towards them. "Looks like a woman. Fuck! It's a girl."

"Frannie Dad! Holy shit!" he said handing his father the rifle and running down the beach at top speed.

When he reached her she was almost unconscious. She could barely stand let alone speak. "God Frannie." He said looking down at her. She was covered in blood. "It's Layne Frannie. I've got ya."

"Had…to…war…n.. you. D..Danger…" she said wheezing. Layne scooped her up in his arms and half ran, half walked to Riddick.

He smelt the blood before he saw it. She'd been stabbed at least twice. Once in the side, and the other against her back. Blood was all over.

"Jesus!" his father growled. "Put her down." he said pawing over her body in the darkness. "She needs a doctor, she's been stabbed. Looks bad. Get moving, I'll cover the beach. Clock's ticking son."

In the distance he saw boats, and dune buggies. "Move Layne, they're coming. Three minutes get to the car." He said bringing up the rear.

When he arrived only Jack and Daniel were outside the car. Layne ran with Frannie in his arms and shoved her into the car holding her in his lap. Next to him was David, sitting with Rafe on his, Fatima, with Ali in the second car, along with Salim and Janis, and in the third car Jack, Riddick. The only ones that couldn't fit were Ali's parents who went into a fourth car. Yousef decided he'd drive and Fatima. Janis' daughter was going with him.

Daniel looked at the clock. "Less than a minute. Time to go." He urged as they all got behind the wheels. Daniel, looking at Frannie only briefly started the car up driving Anne, Kalifa and the small children.

Just as they began to peel out of the courtyard mercs broke through the doors leading to the beach. Peels of gunfire rang out, pulse rifle blasts hit the walls beside the cars.

Ali held onto Fatima as Abdullah pushed down on the gas, his face a mask of concentration. "NO!" Ali shouted looking in through the back of the car at his mother getting hit with automatic gunfire, her deep black abaya propelled forward. His father looked at him and swung the pulse rifle around and began firing at whomever came his way dying with his feet on the ground.

* * *

Just as they cleared the last buildings, Jack watched the first building go up engulfing the beach house in a tornado of plaster, smoke, fire and debris. Any merc caught within the compound would be incinerated and she turned away and looked at Riddick who drove faster and faster down the deserted streets towards the spaceport.

"Sasha," Riddick growled peeling down a side street, a route that the drivers had practiced many, many times, just in case of this very thing. "we're coming in hot. Light the engines and prep for launch."

"Not a problem Riddick. Any casualties?" she asked in Jack's sexy voice.

"One, multiple stab wounds with blood loss, other than that I don't know." He answered looking at Jack. "Frannie made it back."

"Fuck!" she sighed clutching his hand and looking at the road. She turned to the back seat where Janis and Salim sat in utter shock. Janis had lost her daughter and son in law. "Janis, we're gonna need you and quick. Frannie."

She sniffed smoothed her coat against her and said in a hollow unemotional voice. "I'm ready. I will at least save one life tonight. Hurry Riddick. I crave the blackness of space."

"Don't we all Janis, don't we all." he said squeezing his hands around the steering wheel.

* * *

In the rear view mirror, Rafe saw the explosions, saw how Ali's parents had died and stifled a whimper. She pulled David closer to herself and he held her tightly as she looked between the orange fire of what was once her home, and her best friend laying unconscious in her brother's lap.

"Put pressure on that wound there," David said pointing to her abdomen. "Where's the other one?"

"Back. Just under the shoulder blade." He said shifting Frannie in his lap. Rafe took off her scarf, the one she had hastily put around her neck, and wrapped it around Frannie's abdomen. "Thanks squirt."

"No problem. Hold on Frannie. We're almost there." Rafe said putting her hand against the wound on her stomach hold it there so it would slow the blood.

"Looks bad." Layne said quietly. "She barely made it back. Dad saw her in the darkness."

When the three cars reached the spaceport, security waved them in without a backwards glance. They were all looking at the huge explosions on the beach and not to who was in the vehicles.

When they reached the ship, parked the cars, Abdullah and Malcolm began unloading the trunks with Ali, although numb, and Fatima shell shocked as well, helping without a word spoken. Janis ran inside the ship to the med lab shouting orders to Sasha as she went.

"Prep the table for a hot transfer, I need three to four units of whole plasma stat and a chest tube."

In the years since Sasha's evolution from a simple diagnostic program to a fully autonomous forward thinking computer, Riddick and Jack upgrading over the years had modified her program to be able to run the ship without a crew. She could pilot, land, navigate, and do the normal medical functions she had originally been programmed with.

The new ship, The Phantom was a ship large enough to transport over 5 metric tons of cargo, housed a med lab to rival any hospital. Crew quarters for at least 20, a galley bigger than the Flying Dutchman, and this ship had one thing that the Dutchman didn't have. Weapons… It was a freighter with enough guns to fight back against any foe. Riddick made sure of that.

"Not a problem Janis. I await you and the patient." She crooned.

Layne carried Frannie in, his shirt and jeans covered in blood. Her blood smeared on his neck and cheek, he laid her down on the table and allowed the blue diagnostic light to pass over her. "Janis, puncture wound left lung, collapsed lung. Chest tube to reinflate. Severed spleen and puncture of abdominal cavity. Internal bleeding."

"Liver?" Janis asked putting gloves on. "Cardiac sack?"

"Undamaged. Lacerations on left flank, left abdominal wall and loss of two liters. Infuse immediately."

She ran an iv line while the others filed in onto the med deck. "Close that door Layne and hand me that." She said looking at the chest tube.

He closed the doors, just as Kalifa and Anne brought the children passed. Riddick ran down the hall. "Sasha, when everyone is on board, light this candle!"

Jack, Rafe, David and Salim were busy moving the others into the crew room where they could be strapped in. Special gravity was given to the med lab a new innovation so that if the Doc needed to work while they made a fast get away, she could do that.

He jumped into the pilot's chair, adjusting his goggles and shaking his head. "Are we ready Sasha?"

"All on board Captain. Launch in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Launch sequence commencing." She said as the ship propelled towards the deep blackness of space.


	16. Up, up and away

The inertia of rapid ascension into the deep blackness of space finally over, and the artificial gravity well in place, a loud welcoming voice began to speak. "We have cleared the asteroid belt and are in deep space everyone, you may feel free to move around the ship now." Sasha's sultry voice echoed along the ships corridors.

Ali, David and Rafe, followed by Fatima got up from the crew chairs and walked towards the med lab leaving Riddick and Jack alone on the bridge of Riddick's latest baby. The sleek design of the ship was very modern. It was clean, new, being only three years old, and state of the art. After several ships, going from pieced together pieces of garbage to a masterpiece of interstellar design, Riddick considered the Phantom his "baby." He looked over at his wife and sighed. The day had been such a disaster…

Jack moved towards the pilot's chair and put her hand on Riddick's shoulder. "Hey."

He turned and looked at her with a determined set in his jaw. "Janis' kids didn't make it."

"I know. You did everything that you could. Look who you saved." She said as he got up from the chair and removed his goggles. His eyes were closed and he pulled her into his arms_. Rafe, me, Salim, the little guys…_

"Are you all right?" he asked quietly leaning against the chair. He could care less about anyone else at that moment. If his Jack was okay, then he would be too, but he never needed to say that to her, she just knew. Just like he just knew that when they were together it was gonna be okay.

"I am now." she purred pulling him deeper into the embrace. "I don't know what I'd do if you were the one that got hit like Yousef."

"I do," he said thinking that she'd kill every fucking one of them, one at a time.

"but you won't have to, I ain't going anywhere."

"Damn right." She said confidently as he nuzzled her neck and growled playfully. "Come on let's get the Swiss family Robinson settled. Where are we going to put all of them?"

"We got room. It's gonna be fine. Have you been by the med lab?" he asked putting his hand on her stomach and rubbing there. "Glad you and the kids are safe. You sure you're feeling okay?"

"Still pumped on the adrenaline. I promise I'll rest later." She said kissing his cheek, letting her lips linger there for a moment, savoring his skin.

"Good." He told her kissing her back and running his fingers down her neck and pulling her against him.

* * *

Rafe paced back and forth outside the med lab. David stood leaning against a wall close by while Kalifa made runs between the hold where they stowed their gear and each room he'd allocated for them, all the while darting glances inside.

Janis was operating and it didn't look good. They saw movement, heard shouting and bells and beeps louder than normal and it made everyone waiting very nervous.

After two hours into the surgery, Sasha paged Anne who had considerable medical training and had over the years taken to be an adept student of Janis and Sasha.

Three more hours passed and Jack had ordered everyone to the galley for something to eat. They had been up for over a day and if someone didn't impose some sort of rule, they'd all start dropping from lack of food and exhaustion.

"Rafe?" David asked as he watched Rafe falter another hour after that.

She dropped in a heap and he noticed her arm and side were wet. "Damn it. Get Jack." He said to Fatima who was sitting in the galley.

She looked wide eyed and ran to Riddick and Jack's suite banging on the door. "Aunt Jack?" she said in a frightened voice.

No one answered. She banged again and prayed that they weren't indisposed. Not that she could ever imagine them that way…

Then the door slid open and Riddick's imposing figure loomed dwarfing her, his silvery glare intimidating to say the very least. "Uncle Riddick? David said to find Jack. Rafe's collapsed."

He grabbed his goggles and followed her. "What happened?" he growled frustrated, as he reached the mess. Rafe was laying down on the couch in front of the vid screen and she looked drawn and pale.

He knew immediately. Blood. He smelt it and saw her soaked bandage and her wet shirt. "We need to stitch that up. Tima, go over to the med lab. Ask Sasha to find me a suture kit."

Fatima ran from the room and disappeared down the hallway. Ali sat in the corner and was silent looking out the observation port at the stars darting away from them. "David, get me some water. Then go grab her a shirt. She's gonna need a new one."

"Sure Riddick. No problem." He said looking down at her hopeful that her father would help her out.

"Hey squirt. Looks like we need to get this stitched, you okay with your old man doing it?" he asked moving a stray hair from her face.

"Sure…" she said weakly. Riddick looked at her face sweaty and pale and felt her face.

_Fuck. she's hot as hell._ He thought as he removed a few hairs out of her eyes.

"Don't worry dad, I'm gonna be fine." she said coughing. "Shit, it's cold in here."

"You're running a fever kid. Looks like you've got an infection. Janis will fix you up right after she gets Frannie settled." He said as Fatima came in with a sterile suture kit and some bandages.

Fatima stood feeling utterly worthless and guilt ridden seeing Rafe so sick because of something she did. "Rafe, I am so sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Just remember who you're friends are Tima. It's all we have now." she said looking at her father. "Right Dad?"

He growled at her and took the gloves out and put them on. "Uncle Riddick? Janis said to give her ampoule number one. It's something for pain to keep her calm. Morphine." Fatima said humbled that Rafe held no animosity towards her.

Riddick took the ampoule and pressed it against her neck, immediately injecting her with a nice dose of Morphine. "In a minute Rafe you won't feel a thing."

"And if I did I won't care right?" she said as her face went slack and giddy. "Wow………..Love this shit…"

"I'm gonna cut the shirt off." He told her handing Fatima some gloves. "You did this, you help."

She wasn't going to tell him no. She wasn't that stupid. David returned with one of his shirts because they still had to go and find her bags. "Put her in this. It won't matter for now. She's probably got an infection."

"Yeah, figured that. She's hot as hell. Go and get me a mobile Sasha, David, Fatima, is gonna help me. Aren't you Tima?"

"Yes uncle Riddick." She stammered suddenly very squeamish.

"Your sister needs a good dose of reality to get through to her." Riddick growled as he took of Rafe's shirt. Her black bra didn't leave much to the imagination and neither of them mentioned that.

"She might need this." A voice said coming from behind them. Riddick turned towards the voice and saw Ali, standing with a blanket. "She's cold, this might help."

"Thanks kid. You holding up okay?" Riddick asked concerned he'd been so silent since they got aboard.

"Not really, but at least the kids are safe. Dad went out fighting. There's gotta be something in that." He said holding his breath and trying to be brave.

"Yup your dad kept them off us so we could escape. And trust me kid, there'll be time to send the son of a bitches who did that straight to hell. That time's coming, don't you worry." He said letting Ali put the blanket on Rafe while he stitched.

"She out?" David asked looking at Rafe's sleeping form. "He had the portable

Sasha in hand and held it out for the computer to do it's work.

"Not really, she's tired, weak, sick as hell, and doped with morphine. She crashed. It's better this way. I hate seeing her cry. It drives me fucken nuts, just as bad as her mother. Sasha, Rafe's needing the good ole once over."

"I know what you mean." He said as Riddick stitched. "Hello Riddick, please pass the unit over the patient." David did as requested and kept quiet, "Scan complete. Primary laceration requiring twenty stitches minimum, secondary infection, elevated temperature 102 degrees. Administer antibotic therapy orally and continue narcotic pain management. When the patient wakes, make her drink plenty of fluids and keep warm."

"Thanks Sasha." Riddick said as he continued to stitch. "We'll let Janis know when she finishes up in the or." He told David looking through his goggles.

"Damn that shit stinks." David said scrunching up his nose.

"That's the infection. She's gonna need meds for that. Hand me that gel. It's a antiseptic, it'll go in and kill whatever's in the wound." He said looking at the clear blue gel.

"How's Jack?" David asked never having been comfortable calling her 'aunt' or him 'uncle'.

"Sleeping. This part of the pregnancy is always the worst for her. Her body hasn't had that kind of hormone surge in a long time. It takes getting used to." He said pulling out another set of sutures. "Damn that motherfucker really did a number on her."

"I'd of strangled him if I'd been in range. By the time I got there the shit had already hit the fan." He said sitting on the small coffee table. Just then, Layne walked in more like a zombie than a full grown man.

"Man you look like shit." David said as he looked at his jeans covered in splotches of blood, his white shirt was splattered with dried blood and his face looked haggard and drawn.

"She's stable. Critical, but stable. Your mom's in with Janis. You might want to help them clean up. It was pretty bad." He said sitting down and putting his head in his hands. "What the fuck happened to Rafe?"

"Fatima's little cut," Riddick said sarcastically, "got infected and that piece of shit reopened her stitches so I had to redo them."

Finishing up he took the antiseptic cloths and cleaned up her side and her arm, much like Anne had done so long ago when he had a nasty slice. David helped him put his shirt on her and laid her back down. They put the blanket up and all three boys watched as Riddick threw the suture kit in the trash, and walk over to the galley. "Come on boys, time to have a drink."

All three boys came by way of the door and leaned against the counters as Riddick opened a cabinet and took four glasses out. A bottle of Fire Whiskey was next and he poured them each enough to make an impression.

"Drink up, it only gets more dangerous from here." He said downing his glass and walking out the door.


	17. the quiet after the storm part 1

The beep and whirl of the machines were the only things that Daniel heard when he walked into the med lab. The starkness of the room always had intimidated Daniel and this time was no exception. Janis had just cleaned up the makeshift OR table, and Anne was putting the supplies away and into the sterilizer. He looked at the bloodied rags, instruments and felt his stomach lurch when his thoughts drifted to a girl he had found oddly stirring and completely innocent.

"Daniel." Janis said warmly sitting down at the desk inside the office off to the right of the main room. She recorded some data into the computer and sighed when she felt her weariness.

"Doc, how is she?" he asked sheepishly, not wanting to let on that he really cared more about her than he did.

"I won't lie, it's bad Danny, but she'll live. She's gonna be in here for a while, and then, it's going to be a long recovery. You wanna see her?"

He blushed. Janis had known him for twenty years nearly, since Toombs, and she had always been sensitive to all of them. She smiled and led him through the now clean diagnosis room to a larger room with at least four beds towards the sound of the machines. "Hey Danny." Anne said walking passed him. "Janis, don't forget Rafe, she's needing antibiotics for that cut. She's in David's room."

"Thanks Anne. Get some rest. Sasha will alert me if there's any change in her vitals." Janis said adjusting her position. She was tired and after she left Daniel and took care of Rafe, she'd find Salim and sleep.

Daniel wasn't prepared to see Frannie, her damn fine hair pulled back in a knot or the breathing tube pushing her chest up and down. Her eyes were closed and she was very pale, a bag of IV fluid hydrating her and in her other arm, a bag of deep red plasma. There was a bruise on her cheek, and one on her shoulder. She wore a simple medical gown that covered what it needed to and the lights were at thirty percent. "Talk to her. She'll hear you."

"Sure. Get some rest, I'll stay a while." He told her running his hands through his dark brown hair. He unzipped his jacket and took it off and sat down next to her, sighing sadly.

_Fucken mercs._ How he could have ever thought he would have done well as one was beyond him.

Sometime later, he felt the presence of another, someone familiar enough to not disturb him by talking. "Daniel, you holding up okay?"

Riddick stood in the doorway, his silver eyes shining like a cat in the darkness. He didn't approach, giving him his space. "No. Man, I should have seen this coming. Look what those bastards did to her."

"Wounds heal Daniel. Remember Jack that way? That's what you told me. Take a deep breath. There's a bed next to her, try and rest. She's not going anywhere."

Then he was gone. Daniel didn't even turn around. He eyed the bed and got up, kissing the hand that laid so limply in his. "I'll be right here kid."

Then he climbed onto the bed and fell immediately asleep.

* * *

There was a knock at the door and David stiffened sitting up on the full size bed. Every cabin had at least one, Riddick never doubting that one day they'd have to flee and wanting to give as much comfort as possible. He remembered touring it with Layne and laughing. _Why the hell do you have to spend all those extra credits on outfitting the crew cabins, you never take a crew, it's always just us…_

_Just us_… he thought, _how ironic was that? All of us running for our lives, just like they had before I was even born…_

He knew now that Riddick was the smartest man he'd ever met. "Come in." he said looking towards the door. It was dark and he didn't need to see who it was; it was Janis, her demure frame silhouetting the doorway. "She's asleep still, but very hot. I think her fever's back up."

"You look tired David, have you tried to sleep?" she asked moving mobile Sasha over Rafe and looking at the readouts. She put the unit down and took the first syringe and injected Rafe in her good arm.

"Some, but she's tossing and turning and I didn't want her to wake Tima, so we put her in here." He said rubbing his face.

She injected the second into the fleshy part of her hip and closed the bag. "I'll be back in a few hours, keep her covered and try and sleep yourself. We're all exhausted tonight, or is it tomorrow already?"

"I've lost track of the time too. Feels like morning, late but I can't tell. How's Frannie?"

"Stable. She lost a lot of blood and the plasma we had wasn't enough. I used the store reserves. She had the same blood type as Riddick so I used two units of his."

"He's got strong healthy blood so that's good right?" David asked walking her to the door, his socked feet padded lightly against the metal floor and he looked dead tired.

She didn't know how to answer, all she knew was that once she'd infused her with Furyan blood, she perked up and responded better. She wasn't going to think about that now, just be thankful Frannie made it though. "She's gonna be fine, the first twenty four after surgery is the worst. I'm gonna sleep you should too."

David went back to the bed and sat down. Rafe's lens case was next to the bed on the night stand and he remembered when he and Riddick brought her to the room, how Riddick removed her lenses and placed the goggles next to her pillow. _"We should put her in Tima's room."_ He remembered suggesting.

"_Here will be fine for now. She's gonna need the dark."_ He told him as David pulled the blankets down and watched her father lay her on his bed. They removed her boots and socks and David pulled up the covers and sat down at the end watching her._ "See you in a few hours kid. I'm gonna look in on Layne, he looked pretty rattled. I know you all trained for that, but…."_

"_Yeah, don't worry about it. Thanks." _He said looking at her shift into a comfortable position.

Riddick left quietly closing the door after him and left Daniel in the near darkness of his room. His bag was still on the chair next to a small desk and he opened it a got a fresh shirt out. He put it on and laid down next to her watching her sleep drifting off soon after.

"David?" a voice asked sometime later. "Where am I?"

"Bed Rafe, don't try and get up." He said leaning over to her. "Lights ten percent."

"Is this your bed or mine?" she asked lifting her head up slightly. She ran her good arm over her face and he looked at her silvery lenses. "Who took out my lenses?"

"Mine, and Riddick did." He answered feeling her forehead. It was much cooler and she looked less pained.

"Oh." She said suddenly uncomfortable. She moved to get up and he gently pushed her back down. "I better get to my own room. Wherever the hell that is…"

"Your father put you here himself and he said for you to stay put, told me you needed to the dark." He told her putting the covers back up. "Janis came in and gave you two shots, a fever reducer and some antibiotics. You need to stay in bed."

"Your bed." She countered suddenly uncomfortable.

"Yes." He said smugly. "Do you need to go to the bathroom or something?"

"No, not now, I'm fine." she said shifting uncomfortably. "Did she say anything about Frannie?"

"She's gonna make it. It's not good now but she'll be better soon. You can see her when you've rested."

"Who are you my boss?" she quipped in a crabby tired voice.

"Yes. Get used to it."

"Men, ugh…" she said rolling her eyes and falling back to sleep.

* * *

Jack walked down the hall towards the mess to see Salim, David, Ali and Kalifa praying. She never disturbed them but walked into the kitchen to find Riddick feeding the children.

"Auntie Jack!" Audrey said triumphantly sitting in Riddick's lap. "We're having a samwich."

"You are?" she said a twinkle in her eye. As rough and as deadly as Riddick was, she was always amazed at how children were never afraid of his gruff voice, or his eyes in the darkness. They embraced him with such a loving fervor that she'd never get tired of watching him near them. Audrey Ib Haben Maz was no exception to this rule. Snow white blond and eyes as dark as space, she stood her porcelain skin and brilliant smile covered in mustard.

"Oh yes, and we're listening to a story." She said eagerly giggling. Jack looked at Riddick thinking god only knew what he was telling them.

The two boys eagerly ate but it was little Audrey that was the chatty one. "Monsters Auntie Jack. Ones in the dark…"

That story…

She laughed and sat down smiling. "So, what part are you up to?" she said making herself a sandwich.

"The monsters just ate the mean merc named Johns." She said proudly and Riddick just cocked his head and smirked at her. "Mercs are bad Auntie Jack. They need the monsters to eat them."

"What?" he said smoothly. "It's not like I'm gonna tell it like it really happened."

"Like what uncle Riddick?" Audrey asked looking up with her innocent fathomless eyes.

"That they ripped his arms and legs off and crunched him like a…" her oldest brother present volunteered.

"That's enough boys." Riddick's booming voice announced. "I'll tell the rest of you later." He said winking to them. "Up you go, find Baba so he can get you settled."

They scooted down and out of the kitchen while Riddick picked up the dishes and cleaned them off. "You're amazing. She's wrapped around your little finger. Do you have this affect on all women?"

He laughed. But he wasn't going to equivocate that with an answer in the kitchen. He'd leave that for later. "Glad you think so princess. Sleep well?" he asked sitting down next to her and watching her eat. God how he loved her, the way she moved, the way her eyes would bore into his soul and seek his animal nature out. She was his soul mate.

"Yeah. Got the bed all to myself for a change." She smirked laughing as she picked up a cup of coffee.

"Don't get used to it." he growled nipping her ear as she ate.


	18. the quiet after the storm part 2

**Bare with me guys, I'm starting a new job tomorrow and the updates will be weekly, but I'll try and update as soon as I can.**

**Jackie**

**

* * *

Rafe, sitting up in bed for the umpteenth time, sweating profusely from a nightmare, looked at David who slept next to her on his side. He had returned to try and sleep after he prayed with his father, grandfather and friend, feeling as dog tired as he did when he left all, the while Rafe slept undisturbed. He had checked on Frannie, seeing Daniel still at her bedside, and Layne still asleep in his room. When he laid on the bed, Rafe gravitated towards him putting her bad arm carefully on his chest and laid her exhausted face on the pillow.**

But now, she stared at him. His face was slack and his breathing even. And damn if he didn't look gorgeous. "David."

"What string bean?" he asked not even opening his eyes. He knew she'd awoken from another dream and all he wanted to do was pull her into his arms, and snuggle her against him.

That he knew would calm her. Like he knew that even when they argued, she'd always come to him for support. Like he knew that Layne was right, that she liked, maybe even loved him because all those years in the dark, he never treated her any different or made special allowances for her, or let her get away with any shit. Maybe even because he could feel how she felt when they danced, how it made him twitch to see her melt against him and move or the moans against his chest when he kissed the flesh of her neck.

"I hate this." She said hugging her knees.

"Thanks, well that's the last time I sleep with you." he said sarcastically. His eyes opened and he looked at her and realized she was still shaking. He had to stay focused or she'd know he wasn't thinking about anything but pulling her underneath him and continuing the 'dance' they'd shared earlier.

"Ass." She smirked. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah. It's okay. I won't tell anyone how you wake up a shivery mess." He said sitting up in the darkness.

"How you ever came out of Aunt Anne's womb I'll never know." She said rolling her eyes.

"Seriously," he began sitting next to her. She had the covers around her and since he had slept on top of them he allowed her to take them all. "you okay?"

"No. I keep seeing Yaz's face. Keep smelling the sticky metallic blood, I can taste it in my mouth. It's awful."

"That's the adrenaline. It's your body's response to the panic." He told her putting an arm gently around her.

"It sucks." she said crying a little. She suddenly stiffened. "Hey, you're being nice again. What's up with that?"

"Sh," he said smiling a devilish smile. "don't tell anyone but I happen to be one of your best friends, this is perfectly normal."

_Like kissing my neck and making me a horny mess is perfectly normal._ She thought feeling his strong arm around her.

"Normal like when you terrorized me daily." She countered. _Take that David._

"I was 8 and this is different." He defended, pulling her towards him and watching her allow him to rub her back calmingly.

"I bet." She sighed remembering the dancing at the club. "Disco Steve to the rescue."

"You are being mean." He told her laying back down and putting his hands behind his head. "I was just responding to you and your uncontrollable hips."

_And the fact that I wanted to feel you naked against me, hearing you moan like you did later on._

"Uncontrollable? Who's hands were on my hips? Huh, answer me that David." She said flustered.

_Mine, _he mused smiling. _And those perfect breasts hardened and wanting. Damn Rafe, I'd love to see those exposed, just once…_

"I honestly don't remember." He finished feeling smug for getting her so riled, again and remembering how arousing she felt against him.

He held the arm she just smacked and smiled. "Serves you right. You shouldn't hit people."

"Ass." She said angrily as she winced in pain. "Do you always have to do that?"

"Do what?" he asked as she laid back down and turned away.

"Make me so fucken angry." She said in a huff.

"No, I don't. Truce?" he said extending his hand over her side and waiting for her to take it.

He knew she would, even though she took her time.

"Truce." She said quietly.

He could have sworn he heard her crying and as she shook his hand, he laid his arm on her stomach and pulled her to him. "Sleep string bean, I'll keep you safe."

That made her cry harder. He turned her towards him and wiped her tears. "Sh. Don't cry."

"David. I shouldn't have talked to him. Shouldn't have egged him on." She said looking at him through the darkness.

"Sh. It's over and we're safe." He said stroking her face tenderly. He had dreamed about touching her like this and enjoyed the calming intimacy that this afforded very much.

"And Ali's mom and dad are dead." She said so sadly that he felt her heart breaking through the blanket.

"They went quick, and if we die, that's how we all should go." He said remembering her words so long ago. Riddick had instilled in them the best of survival instincts. Be grateful if you die quick.

"I hate this." She said sniffing.

"You hate laying down on a comfortable bed with me, thanks a lot, and here I thought you actually found me attractive. Sorry I was wrong." He said sarcastically. His playful nature was coming out again and all he wanted to do was make her feel less sad. It made her more flustered, an emotion he preferred.

"I don't, and I do." she said shaking her head. "You're making me look stupid."

"I'm not, and you're confusing." He said scooting closer to face her properly.

"I hate the freaking guilt. I killed Yaz, now Ali's parents. I hate that. It's because I was stupid." She said looking at him so profoundly sad.

He leaned up on his elbow and looked down at her in the dimness. "You didn't kill Yaz, you tried to save her and Ali's mom and dad went out fighting. They died to save us. You didn't do that either. Keep that in mind."

"It's hard when you see it in your mind, when you feel it choking you." she told him looking up and trying to not feel self conscious that he was looking down at her looking so gorgeous, or the fact that he smelled incredible, or that her heart seemed to be slamming in her chest.

"Speaking of hard," he said earnestly although it came out as something anything but. "pervert, mind out of the sewer Rafe." He admonished when she rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, couldn't help it. If you hadn't noticed, you're in perfect kissing position. I had to go there. Please." She said smirking trying not to smile. "continue with whatever you were saying."

"We could fight less. That wouldn't be so hard, would it?" he asked realizing their position too and smiling.

"What we kiss and make up? Where's the fun in that?" she asked continuing to stare, but this time at his mouth.

"Fun, you've not see fun…" he murmured as he closed the gap.

"I don't feel that way, I can't, you're…" she said as his lips softly touched hers. For a moment she felt how soft his lips were, how his scruff had begun to come in and how suddenly she felt very warm.

He kissed her again, this time with a little insistence and she returned it her eyes closed against his. She bit his lower lip and a low sound came from his throat as she found his mouth arousing.

He rubbed his cheek against hers and his sigh was so soft it felt as good as his skin. "See that wasn't that difficult."

"No, it wasn't." she said feeling the pull of sleep and trying to fight it. Her yawn was his cue to lay back down. "Sorry."

"Don't be Rafe, I'm not. Hell, I'd like to do that again." he told her honestly. "But you need your sleep, so we're at a truce for the moment."

Pulling her close to him and laying his arm over her, he watched her fall back asleep and smiled, they were alive, they were safe, even as tenuous as that was, and she let him kiss her and she kissed back.

When sleep finally pulled him under he realized that they had a long road ahead of them but he was willing to go at her pace because he loved her, and deep down, he knew she loved him.

* * *

According to Salim's calculations, their body clocks were out of whack. He asked Sasha to give him a time and perhaps a date so he could attempt to sinchronize everyone back to a semi normal schedule.

"It is approximately 1500 hours on Tuesday." She told him as he sat in the mess taking a few moments to enjoy the quiet.

"Hey old man." Riddick said smiling as he walked from the bridge. They had been on board roughly a day and he knew that they'd be able to put down on Talos Prime in another.

"My son." He said watching Riddick sit beside him. "We need to get supplies and fuel. Our departure has not gone unnoticed."

"How bad is it?" he growled looking at the lists of stores and fuel. "Damn. Okay, we can fly the shuttle down to the planet and get fuel and food. Clothes for the little guys and some stuff they might need. We need to go somewhere safe, where we can think."

"Just like old times my son?" he said smiling sadly.

"Yeah. Ain't that the truth." He gruffed shaking his head. "I'm gonna get Jack working on new idents for everyone. How's the Doc?"

"Tired, but Raphaella is strong. Jack is doing better?" he asked running his hand over his bald head.

"Sleeping again. I'm not pushing her now. They twins are growing fast again and you know how she did last time, by two months they were already kicking. But I won't complain. Jack seems happy, and relieved we're on our own again." he told him setting down coffee for the two of them.

"We will weather this as we weathered the other." He said confidently, "we need to pull our resources and come up with a plan."

"You got that right. First we find a place and hold up for a while, then we plan an attack. I want blood for Yaz."

Salim inclined his head in agreement. He sighed carefully and sipped his coffee trying to figure a way for all of it to finally end.


	19. The internmission you've all waited for

For those of you who think I have fallen off the face of the planet, do not fear.

Rafe and David are in for a ride! (nakedness is coming, literally... ;))

And the hormone fairywill hit Jack, much to Riddick's pleasure.

Please forgive my lack of updates, I've been swamped. What I have done since internet access for me is limited, is download and print Sound and the Furyan Part II so I can reread and begin the turbulent saga where I left off.

Rousseau is going to be evil.

Old friends come to help. And Riddick learns to finger paint. (Just joking, or am I?)

All my love and keep emailing me directly at my hotmail, I need all the encouragement I can get.

Love

Jackie


	20. Rousseau lashes out

**To everyone who was so PATIENT thanks so much. I have been swamped working so much and couldn't update. But that is over, because I love all of you so MUCH! I shall start updates at least twice a week, maybe more now that the muse has come to me once again.**

**To Rose, ( ) a, and raven, love you all!**

**I have one thing to say, and listen well, **

**I'M... BAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!**

* * *

"Idiots! Incompetent fools!" he shouted spitting his drink everywhere. His eyes were a bloodshot that came from days of binge indulgence. His skin was pale, and to his trusted bodyguards he looked like he needed a fix, a bath and some food, but none of them said a word. He was too enraged to see anything clearly. "You let them escape! I should kill you all!"

Sometimes Gerard wished he would. Just to follow through on something. But then wishful thinking never ever panned out.

The four men stood ready to receive whatever punishment their boss had in store for them. Only Gerard, who had been with him since the beginning, knew his intentions. His wry smile didn't meet his eyes as he knew that Navim Rousseau was too high to even carry out the meekest of threats.

"We surveyed the ruins of the compound and found two bodies and one vehicle. Our man at the space port revealed five possible ships launched within an hour of the explosions." Gerard volunteered. The look of abject rage on his face did not go unnoticed by any of them. One glance from him and the three others walked out without a backwards glance.

Rousseau ran his hand over his face running his fingers through his beard. The sweat running down his forehead gave him a pallid drawn look, strung out to say the very least. "Find the girl or I'll put a bullet behind each of your ears." He said his face twitching uncomfortably.

Gerard, an imposing figure standing stoically against the wall, his deep black features shining in the soft light, shook his head disapprovingly. In the years since he had met the man, he worked for him, knowing his tendencies to self indulgence and irrational choices.

He stayed for one reason. Money. Rousseau paid extremely well for Gerard's lack of conscience. He enjoyed the fact that his trusted bodyguard had no opinion on his private tastes. Gerard looked the other way when his fetishes leaned towards the perverse.

Gerard's severely chiseled features, his eyes specifically, bored into Rousseau's soul unnerving him. His deep baritone voice roused him from his drug induced stupor. "What is it about this girl that you so transfixed?" he said staring at him with disgust. Walking towards the large oak doors he turned repulsed by him, "No woman is that intoxicating."

Gerard prided himself on his unwavering self control and seeing his boss, the man he killed for, stole for, and looked the other way for nearly ten years, looking like a love sick boy nauseated him.

With a faraway look, he answered in a voice slurred by a potent intoxicant, "She is like a piece of heaven. I must have her."

"You realize that she is protected by the most dangerous man in the universe." He asked him remembering the dossier on Richard B. Riddick and being very impressed.

"So am I." was his only reply, his pupils dilating rapidly as he injected himself with another ampoule into his neck.

Gerard watched his face contort then go slack as the hallucinogen began to take effect. "Bring in the next one."

His bodyguard opened the door and stood between him and who was standing in the darkness waiting. He looked at her, coldly realizing the depths of Rousseau's obsession.

Before him stood a very expensive woman, dressed in mechanic's boots, a tight black top and low rise jeans her jet black hair short and her skin a beautiful mixture of pale and exotic darkness.

"Your name is Rafe, you are blind. Put these on. Let him lead you." Gerard told her handing the sunglasses to her. "When he tells you to do something do it."

"Sure," she said walking into the room and towards the man who sat on the couch. "it's his money."

Gerard closed the door, his looming figure still present in her mind. "Tell me you love me."

"I love you." She said quietly holding her hand out towards him. He rose and took her hand and led her to the couch.

"Tell me you missed me." He ordered his voice slurred as he slumped onto the couch taking her with him.

"I missed you." She said quietly.

A harsh slap came without warning as his eyes, glazed and feral looked at her with contempt.

"Liar."


	21. Audrey takes a stand

A strange groan woke her. She knew that something wasn't right when she felt an arm tightly against her stomach. She felt the warmth of a body behind her, flush against her skin, warm breath against her neck. She moved slightly again, noticing her skin felt clammy and she didn't feel anything but a dull ache in her arm.

"Don't move string bean, I just got to fucken sleep." A sleepy voice growled against the lobe of an ear.

Rafe closed her eyes and groaned quietly remembering that _he_ was in the bed and it was _his_ arm around her. "And who's fault is that?"

"Shut up and go back to sleep." He grumbled.

"What if I don't?" she asked turning around trying to get a look at his face.

"Don't push your luck Riddick." He gruffed covering his face with his arm. "I've been up for almost two days, the last one worrying about you so let me get some fucken sleep."

"Testy aren't we? I was just asking." She said attempting to move out of his arms. "You could let me go and get yourself some sleep."

"No, I'm finally comfortable, you're still weak as a puppy and Janis came by and ordered you to stay put. Go..back..to..sleep…"

"Is this a conspiracy?" she muttered. "Does everyone want me in your bed?"

"Don't make me shut you up again. The last time you fell right asleep." He said in the darkness.

"Threats will get you nowhere David." She told him looking at the wall remembering how his kisses brought something out in her that she had never felt.

But David said nothing more, his deep even breathing betraying his exhaustion. The last twenty four hours had been hell for all of them, Rafe knew that all too well, exhausted herself, she drifted back to a time when paradise was their playground and no one had to live in the dark, and slept.

* * *

"Riddick?" Jack asked walking onto the bridge. She wore a loose fitting shirt and a comfortable pair of pants. Her hair was loose and she had Audrey in her arms.

"Put the kid down, you know better than that Jack." A voice said with his back turned towards the console.. "Hey kid."

"Hiya unka Riddick. Is this where you drive the ship?" a small bubbly voice asked jumping down and running to grab his pant leg.

He hoisted her up and swung her around much like Kalifa had done dozens of times. "Yeah. See that chair?"

"Uh-huh." She said wide eyed and full of hero worship.

"I sit right there and drive the ship anywhere I want to go." He said winking at Jack who couldn't get over how gentle he was with children.

"When I'm big I wanna drive the ship." She said sitting on his lap as he adjusted the instruments.

"Well, as my co pilot," he said smiling his silvery eyes glinting in the soft light, "you need to grow up a little and listen to every word I tell you. You got to be smart and fast, can you do that?" he said in his charming gravely voice.

"Yup." She said looking so innocent. "I can do that just like Rafe does."

She jumped down and did several kicks and punches. "See I'm super strong. Wanna feel my muscles?"

She ran up into his lap and sat there showing her arm muscles. "Pretty strong kid, but you gotta listen to Aunt Jack, your mom and dad and Baba Salim so you can grow strong, you're still a little small yet."

She pouted like the three year old she was and her eyes welled up with tears. "Hey, you shouldn't cry. It's gonna make your face leak. Listen." He said looking at Jack who just wanted to enjoy the display of fatherly affection, "I'll make a deal with you. If you can be a good girl, listen to me and Aunt Jack and do what you're told, I'll start showing you how to fly the ship. And when you're big enough, you can train like Rafe and your brothers."

"Really?" she said smiling so big she jumped up and down on his lap.

"You bet." He said chuckling.

"I knew you were the best unka Riddick! I love you." she said kissing his cheek and running out of the room screaming to whomever would listen that she was gonna fly the ship one day.

"Flirt." Jack said finally approaching.

"You have_ no_ idea." He said rolling his eyes. "You feeling okay? You look a little pale."

"The last few days have been a little rough." She admitted. "Rafe was right. You haven't gotten any older. You still look as tasty as you did when I had my 17th birthday."

He closed his eyes and remembered truth or dare… "Penny for your thoughts?" she asked knowing exactly what was going through his mind.

"Truth or dare?" he said as they both started to laugh.

"Dare." She said giving him a sultry come and get me look. She walked towards him and smiled the one that got him in the most trouble.

"Oh princess, the things running through my mind…" he purred looking hungrily at that damn fine ass.

A sound came from the hallway and they both shook their heads. "Excuse me. My son, we need to have a meeting. I think it best if we know what we're up against." Salim said looking at Jack and smiling. "It is good to see you improved my child. You are needing more rest. You know that this stage of your pregnancy is the most taxing."

"Yes Baba. I know. Riddick is very good at reminding me I'm not invincible." She said as Riddick put his arm around her. "Watch me in a few weeks. I'll run you all ragged."

They all laughed as they walked towards the mess where everyone including a very reluctant Danny sat waiting. "We are all with you. No one will come between us." Salim told them confidently.

There sitting at one table were Malcolm, Abdullah, Vyper. At the next sat Anne and Kalifa with Audrey on his lap. Her two brothers Brendan and James, sat on the floor in front of their parents, while David and Rafe sat with Layne at the table behind them. Fatima sat on the couch holding a pillow while Ali stood in the background with Janis and Daniel. Salim joined his wife while Jack stood next to Riddick.

"Well," he began gravely, "we're all safe. For now. But I won't lie. This isn't over."

Jack came up beside him remembering how he was never one to want the responsibility of others. She remembered his loner quality very well and how far he had come since T2.

"We're a family, and we stick together." She said taking his hand. "Right? Who's with us?"

No one in the room could stay silent. Slowly and reverently each person in the room stood up. "We're with you Riddick. No matter what." Kalifa said standing with Anne at his side.

One after another stood holding no reservations, and Audrey in her innocently sweet way gave him a thumbs up saying, "We're gonna kick their butts!"

The laughter was so welcomed that Riddick smiled knowing that after years of the slam, years of the monster keeping him down, then years of life with Jack and family, that he had love and loyalty, none of which he deserved, but welcomed all the same. "All right then, let's get to work." He said as the meeting began.


	22. Traitors everywhere

_Confidential communication incoming:_

_Primary targets acquired…_

_Monies paid to secondary target available… Transfer back to coded account upon receipt of money transfer for information…_

_Riddick and family located and tracked…await your orders for recapture and cryo stasis…_

_Rousseau is unstable… easily neutralized…_

_Awaiting further instructions…_

The computer screen blinked and the man sitting at the desk sighed and clapped his hands in triumph. It took years for him to finally get a handle on the man who had in one single night decimated a portion of the most powerful family on Hellion Prime.

Mahmood Farad sat in a large leather chair letting the sun set in the distance. At seventy two, he was the oldest and most powerful men on the planet, and no one dared attempt to supplant him.

The years had not been kind to him and he was ready to make his last stand to prove to the young ones, the men who had been only boys when the massacre had occurred that he still had the juice to see revenge done.

"Grandfather," a dark imposing ruggedly handsome man said standing in the doorway. "The traitor has responded."

"Yes." The old man said sighing. "I am a man who has withstood the ridicule of others because I did not act promptly after your father was murdered."

"You acted as you should. I would not have run towards death as my father would have. I am not like him." He explained looking at the old man who was trying to endure the shame of waiting to avenge his family.

"Hasan, you did not know your father enough to understand him. He had a compulsion. And your grandmother was one of my wives that was as evil as the black soul that tore my sons from my heart. She cultivated their perverse tastes, and I am glad that you are not like any of them. You have a soul, a cloudless beautiful soul not marred by violence and death."

Hasan Mohammed sat by his grandfather and noticed a twitch he hadn't seen before. Living with the hope of revenge ate at his soul like a cancer and he wanted no part of it.

But his brother, older than him by 5 years, remembered the death and the devastation afterwards. He had reminded him often how the tiles ran red and that their father was butchered like a dog and left to bleed to death. They had watched, when the had come of age, the video feeds where every detail of the massacre was there to witness.

"It's about time the traitor decided to inform us he still breathes. We certainly pay him enough for his services." An acidic voice said laced with sarcasm and derision.

"Akbar, you most of all need to employ patience. Our time will come. We will kill Riddick, then we will take their women, and do with them what we like. I want _his wife_ to suffer. Much more than she did under Faisal's care. The balance and our way of life has suffered because _that woman_ defied our laws. They need to all be made to pay, dearly, to show that our way is the only way."

"I agree." Akbar said looking at Hasan with contempt. Hasan never believed in the subjugation of women, or their enslavement. He knew in the weeks ahead that he would leave the system, having turned 17 and becoming legally an adult.

He would warn them, seeing over and over the horrible fate that awaited them. He would find a way, he had to…

* * *

The beep and whirl of the machines in the med lab made Rafe uncomfortable. She was so unnerved by her best friend unconscious that she closed her eyes trying to not look at her, but being sighted now she couldn't look away.

"She's strong Rafe." A quiet voice said behind her.

"I know uncle Danny." Rafe said wiping her face wet with tears. "She tried to warn us and look what happened to her. They killed her parents, and did this to her."

_It's all my fault…_

He took his hand and put it on her shoulder to comfort her like he'd done so many times before, "Listen, don't make her sacrifice so small. She loved us so much that she risked her life to warn us. We have to stay strong for her. She's gonna be fine. Talk to her. I'm gonna get a shower."

"Sure uncle Danny. I will." She said staring at Frannie's unconscious form attached to a ventilator. "Hey Frannie. We're safe now. The worst is over. Please wake up kiddo. I'm so tired and I need my friend now."

The beep and whirl continued as Sasha's voice low and comforting floated throughout the room. "Kid, she's in there, she's just so tired now. All she needs is time."

"Easy for you to say, you don't have a body." Rafe said sarcastically.

"True but I watched your father sit in a seat much like that one wondering the same thing. Jack was hurt just as bad and pregnant with your brother. She nearly died. But he held on, he knew that if he held on that she'd pull through. That's what you need to do, you need to hold on. Tell her things, hold onto life and she'll come back."

Her quiet soft voice reassured Rafe even as she wept. "Thanks Sasha. You're the best."

"I know, new and improved. No substitute and always ever present." She said cockily.

Rafe just rolled her eyes and held onto the limp hand that laid on the sheet so still.

* * *

An hour later Rafe felt a hand on her shoulder and she nearly jerked awake ready to strike. "Back it down string bean it's only me." David said wearing his favorite jeans and a black T-shirt.

"Sorry, still a little jumpy." Rafe said rubbing her shined eyes and putting her hands through her hair. "She's still unconscious."

"Wouldn't you be after getting gutted by professionals?" he asked looking at her. "Your mom is looking for you. She wants to talk about getting off the ship and getting supplies. Plus, it's about time you and I had a little talk too."

She looked up at him and her eyes begged to him to not go there just now. "What's there to talk about, you think you own me, and the fact remains, you don't."

"No, that's not what I'm talking about." He said sitting next to her while she still had her best friend's hand in hers.

"Then what is this about? The kissing? The sleeping together?" she asked not liking the lack of control, or the fact that he wanted to address the feelings that she had been suppressing.

"It's about the fact there is something between us and we can't deny that." He said plainly scooting the chair up.

"Okay, let's say for a moment you're not delusional. That I find you _mildly _and I mean that, mildly attractive, what makes you think I would act on it?" she asked looking at him like a caged animal.

"Because think I'm well, me," he said as if the fact was so widely known that no one would have refuted it. "and you like when I touch you."

"You're cracked in the head. Dad's put you on the mat too many times." She scoffed.

"I'm serious. You care about me." he said putting his hand on her cheek, "and I care about you."

"You're nuts." She said trying to pull back. "I like nice men."

"I am a nice man." He said remembering one of her favorite movies, Empire Strikes Back. They had spent a whole day watching the entire series from beginning to end and she always got mushy when the scene between Han Solo and Princess Leia. She knew it verbatim.

"Well, you could have fooled me. Bossy, everything has to be my way, walking around like you own me. Not a chance big guy. I won't play that way."

He leaned and kissed her cheek. A simple kiss that told her she was okay, that it was going to be okay. Her hand shook at his touch. "Please don't."

"Why, I know you like it. And I'm not a bad guy, well not really." he said smirking. "It's gonna be alright."

She stiffened. Her breathing got erratic and she looked at him with a mixture of fright and apprehension. "What's wrong, I can't kiss _that_ badly."

"Fr—Frannie." She said spinning around. "Oh GOD! Get Mom and Janis, hurry."

Frannie's eyes were open and she was starting to struggle against the tubes and machines. David ran out of the room and Rafe leaned over Frannie trying to get her to calm down. "Sasha! Get everyone in here. Frannie's awake. What do I do?"

"Say something to calm her. She's disoriented and scared. Be her friend. The others are coming." The voice said as the lights brightened and Rafe put her shades on.

"Hey girl. It's okay, stay still, we'll get you unhooked in a sec. You're safe now. I promise you. We are all safe. Stay still…" she said fresh tears coming freely from behind the glasses. "Just hang on!"

"Well, it's nice to see our patient has finally woke up. You remember me don't you Frannie, I'm Dr. Janis, Baba's wife. You are a very brave girl." She looked at the mass of people that had suddenly appeared. "All of you save Anne and Daniel need to go the mess and wait. There is too much stimuli for her right now."

David, took Rafe's hand and led her away and the frightened wide eyes of her best friend were the last she saw before she walked into the hall. "Man she's scared. I should stay."

"She'll be all right." He told her smoothing her shoulders. She looked at him and wondered if he was right, that he really did care and that he wasn't just fucking with her because he could.

Riddick and Jack stood by the med lab door pacing and talking low as if discussing what their next step was unaware that there was a traitor in their midst….


	23. Riddick makes the rounds

Dedicated to Kytana, because the bunnies made me do it!

* * *

Rafe sat quietly in a cushy chair on the observation deck amazed at the sheer size of the ship. In the rush of their escape, she failed to notice how much more advanced the Phantom was compared to the Flying Dutchman. The sleek design of the walls, the comfortableness of every piece of furniture, she was amazed at the sheer luxury of it.

"I figured if we had to run, might as well do it comfortably." A deep comforting voice said in the absolute darkness. "Hey squirt."

"Good choice." She said sniffing slightly. He hated knowing that she'd been crying. He could never stand to see Jack do it, and she was no different. "Hey Daddy. Everything quiet down?"

"Yeah, Frannie's been sedated. She's a strong kid. Gotta hand it to her she showed guts." He said sitting on the ottoman in front of her. "You okay?"

She thought about it for a moment. In the last three months, everything she had known as normal had changed. She had her sight back. She knew who Yaz's killers were. Then there was David. Plus mercs were on their necks again. A lot had happened and she was still trying to process it.

"Not really, no." she admitted hugging her knees.

"It's a little much to take in all at once." He told her ruffling her hair. "But you're a tough kid. None of mine are weaklings."

"I know that. But..." she started to say but the tears began to fall.

"Hey, none of that shit Rafe, I can't stand it when your mother does it, and you're no different." He said shaking his head.

"I'm tired." She told him finally when the hiccups were quieted down.

"I know that kind of tired kid and it doesn't get any easier when you get older. You gotta stay tough or it'll wear you down." He said looking at her, his eyes glinting reflectively in the darkness.

"I know, I just feel like," she said sniffing and running her fingers through her hair, "it's all my fault. Yaz, Ali's parents, Frannie, God everyone's fucking running because I couldn't control myself."

"Stop that shit right now squirt, the one thing you better keep in mind is that you're my kid and mercs will always want a piece of you to get to me. I'll always be looking over my shoulder. That's just the way it is." He said cynically.

"What is his name?" she asked after a few minutes of awkward silence.

"The fucker at the club?" he asked looking at her and wishing she was Audrey's age again.

"Yeah. Double of Aquilian Whiskey, sipped slowly, smelled like jet fuel." She told him closing her eyes and remembering every detail her other senses could remember.

"Rousseau, Navim Rousseau, partner once, a long time ago with Toombs, that stupid Fuck. The smell you smelled on him, well squirt, that would be black dandies. Bet he shot up right before he saw you." Riddick said sitting next to her in the other large chair and putting his feet up on the ottoman like a king on a throne. "The body tries to reject the chemical at first leaving a rancid stench."

"What does it do?" she asked remembering his every movement, even when she had been with him while blind.

"Alters the brain chemistry to give off a particular hallucination, he probably shot it to make him remember you back then. Fucken perv, I'm gonna gut that mother fucker for you kid, slowly."

"Whatever you like daddy. I leave that up to you." She said flatly. She stared up into the deep blackness of space feeling lost.

"Anything else on your mind kid?" he asked looking at her wondering what else was bothering her. "Golden boy behaving himself?"

"Does he ever?" she scoffed.

"He better." He growled.

In the perfect blackness Rafe looked at her father suddenly furious. "When did you decide I needed a keeper, Daddy?"

"You were about two years old, why squirt?" he said laughing.

"Very funny." She said standing up and walking to the large window where the planet in the distance looked familiar, it was Talos Prime. "Seriously, I hate his guts. He makes me so crazy."

He knew that kind of crazy. He remembered it very well. He knew a person who made him that nuts and what it did to him. Crazy was JACK. Crazy made him feel alive. He figured if she felt crazy, it might make her feel alive too.

"Then why do you hang around him?" He asked figuring he'd state the obvious first.

Rafe began to pace, holding her arms around her as if to fortify herself against the answer. "Ahhhhhhhggggggghhh." She began, "He just…knows me… I don't have to constantly explain myself. I can be me and he doesn't have to walk around on egg shells like you all do, and don't tell me you don't. I can be me, and he's okay with that."

_Plus I feel so safe around him…plus he's hot and seems to like me right back. Plus I make him crazy and that's REALLY FUN…_

"That's what I thought." He admitted sighing like her answer was a great relief.

"I don't understand." She said sitting on the chair arm and putting her feet on his lap.

"I'm going to let you in on a little secret; I felt the same way around your mother." He said chuckling. "She was just a kid—too young for an animal like me. So I went away, tried to find out why she had such a hold on me. I spent years feeling like a caged animal—hurting."

"Then what happened?" she said scooting her socked feet under his legs and shivering in the cold.

"Temperature, increase 10 degrees on the observation deck." He said continuing.

"Absolutely Riddick." Sasha's voice crooned as he continued.

"You shouldn't go around this place half dressed still sick." He chided as he finished his story. "I came back to New Mecca with one thing in mind, find out what I'd been exiling myself for and was she the one thing that would tame the animal inside me or go on like I had been?"

"How did you know?" she asked hugging her knees again.

"The moment I saw her, felt her near me I knew. She was the one thing I was missing. I know it sounds like romantic bullshit, but it's true. Something inside me knew. Your mother didn't' judge me; she didn't hate the fact I had killed people, that the animal was inside me always there. She accepted me for who I was underneath, without question."

"How can David be like mom?" she asked looking at him realizing how much he love her mother and what that meant knowing so much about the man Richard B. Riddick was all those years before.

He could see where she was going with this. "Answer this… Does the animal in you want out whenever he's around?"

He could see her blush in the darkness like an aura around her whole body.

_Yes…_

"Does he flinch when it does?" he asked next already having seen the answer.

_No…It turns him on._

"There's your answer. Why do you think Layne nails everything in sight? He's trying to find _that._"

The realization of her father's very honest talk floored her. "Damn."

"Yeah, baby welcome to Furyan adulthood." He said ruffling her hair and walking towards the door. "Don't stay up too long, you need your rest."

"Sure daddy. Wow…" she said slipping back into the chair…

* * *

Janis and Jack sat in the mess, going over several of Frannie's charts sifting through the complex data of her first forty eight hours. Medically sedated due to the severity of her injuries Frannie would incur less damage and allow the shock of the massive surgery Anne, Janis and a very reluctant Layne had performed.

Taking a sip of coffee Janis gasped. "Amazing. Absolutely incredible…Look at this."

"What?" Jack asked sitting forward and rubbing her side.

"Sasha?" Janis said aloud and the fully functioning computer came on line.

"Yes Dr. Janis?" Sasha's sultry tones crooned.

"Compare Frannie's DNA pre and post op." Janis requested sitting back and pointing to the printout of the latest blood work.

Jack looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Comparison complete. Please view comparison on vid screen." She announced as both women took their coffee cups with them and walked towards the wall size screen.

"Compare DNA strain to known matches in your database." Janis asked pointing towards Jack.

"Am I right Sasha?" Janis asked adjusting her glasses and looking at the different visual representations.

"Correct Dr. Janis. Frannie's DNA has been mutated. Pre op, seen on the left is a normal B+ human blood sample. On the right, post op, is Frannie's current DNA representation. B+ Furyan. It is identical to known subjects Richard B. Riddick, Layne Riddick, and Jack Riddick."

"You're serious…" Jack said the realization of such a thing impossible to her. "Holy SHIT!"

"Yes. Because I gave her Riddick's whole plasma, the aggressiveness of the Furyan genetic code reorganized her DNA. In ever sense of the word, Frannie is a furyan female."

"Do you realize what that means?" Jack said astonished.

"Allah be merciful, I am amazed." She said astonished as well.

"OH MY Friggen GOD. This could mean…" Jack nearly shouted…

"What are you freaking out about now Jack?" Riddick asked from the door.

She laughed looking towards him looking very handsome in his black jeans and black jacket.

"Hail to the king baby, you saved Frannie's life…" Jack said kissing him on the cheek and letting Janis explain the obvious.

"Riddick, because of the way your DNA was engineered on Furya it would seem that you have the ablility, or should I say your blood and other bodily fluids, to alter the DNA of whomever receives it.

"I knew I was a strong mother fucker but hey, I never touched her…" a gravely voice said walking inside the mess and looking with them at the proof of how aggressive the genetic engineering on Furya was.

"I know that baby. But she's got you running through her veins now."

"Through your donation of plasma, Frannie has become Furyan." Janis corrected making all of them laugh. "So it would seem that semen is not the only thing that can cause mutation. There is hope for the Furyan race yet."

"Well fuck me." Riddick said sitting on the couch shocked to hear that his race of people may still have a chance.

"Wonder if it works only on females?" Jack asked rubbing his shoulders.

"Both of you don't get your hopes up. This could just be a fluke. Let's just see how fast she heals." Janis warned. "I will not experiment on anyone I love for scientific curiosity."

They both looked at her hopefully but with understanding that she didn't have to explain.

"I will, however, do some experiments in the lab, on samples we already have." She explained, "But keep in mind, this may be just a coincidence."

But deep down they all knew what it could mean. It could save the Furyan race. "I'm not going to be a fucken lab rat."

"Of course not." Both the women said at the same time.

"See what this means. But don't talk about it to anyone." His eyes were cold and unforgiving. He had again, took someone else's life and changed it forever.

"No problem Riddick." Janis told him taking her findings and walking out of the room.

"Well, we all knew you were the one man in the universe that would be a hot property." She smiled and continued taunting him. "I VANT TO SUCK YOUR BLOOD, muahhh!"

"You can fuck off at any time princess." He snapped.

"Only if you take your clothes off first big boy." She said dragging him by the hand towards their quarters while biting her jaws open and shut. "Yummy…"

"Lead on baby, lead on." He growled smacking her perfect ass.

* * *

David had been walking around the decks since Rafe bolted after Frannie woke up. He knew that he had spooked her and that was the worst mistake he could have made. He knew she felt something other than friendship for him, knew that something underneath made her skittish, but he also knew that her body would betray her every time.

He stood just outside the observation deck and watched her sleeping, snuggled in a chair. He wanted to go to her and comfort her, let her know that he'd seen Frannie and knew she was okay, that they were all going to be okay. But he hesitated.

"Don't just loom if you want to say something, get on with it." She said in the darkness.

He walked in and sat down in front of her, on his knees so he could see her face.

"Don't you want to put the lights on?" she asked flatly.

"Not especially." He said knowing that she didn't need them to see his face and he accepted that fact as easily as if full lights were on. "I don't mind the darkness."

"What do you want?" she asked clearing her throat. To his ears it sounded as if she was crying again.

"Hey don't bite my head off." He told her raising his voice a little.

She sniffed in the darkness and he knew that one wrong word and she'd start to cry all over again. "Sorry."

"Forgiven every time, even if you're a pain in the ass." He told her sitting on the ottoman.

There was an awkward silence for a few moments, and her timid, flat voice, the one he equated with her terrified haunted sleepiness, asked, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." He said smiling. His talks with Riddick had been fruitful because she was so like her mother that his advice was lately very helpful.

"I've known you all my life." She said sitting up.

"Is that your question?" he said baiting her a little.

"Shutting up would be nice until I finish, ass."

He laughed because a sarcastic Rafe was someone who wasn't sulking or going inward. It was the same tactic that Riddick uses with Jack and why should he start trying something else when the simple worked just fine.

"Thank you." She said blowing her bangs out of her eyes. "Do you remember Yaz?"

"Of course."

"Why not her? Why did you always pester me?" she asked. "She was the prettier one, the funny one…"

His face betrayed his thoughts and a smile crept along his mouth. "You were real. You always had such life in you. But I … I'd of said anything to you just to get you to react, so you'd try and kick my ass…"

"Glutton for punishment.." she said laughing.

"That I am." He said putting his hands on his knees and smiling smugly.

"You were my only friend." She admitted feeling small and alone.

"I hope I still am." He told her looking into her silvery glinting eyes.

The tears began to run again and she couldn't help it. "I feel so responsible."

"You aren't. Remember that. Rousseau is responsible, Farad is responsible. Not you." He said louder than he wanted to.

She pulled herself to the edge of the chair, warm still from her sleeping and leaned on his shoulder. "You know you make me crazy sometimes, on purpose."

"How so?" he asked dying to know.

"Ass, you know exactly what I mean." She said inhaling the unique male scent she had started craving since they ran from Talos 4.

"Me?" he asked innocently as he could. "I'm a guy, we're really not that smart."

"Well, I could have told you that." She said pushing him. "I can't stand you."

Now this is where he felt the advantage slip from her to him. "Really? Prove it."

"What?" she asked completely unbalanced.

"Put up or shut up." He told her arrogantly.

"How?" she asked defiantly. As exhausted as she was she didn't see his plan coming.

He knew he had her when she looked at him in the darkness. "Kiss me and tell me you can't stand me."

"Not on your life Cassanova." She said all out of sorts.

"Chicken."

"What did you say?" she asked furious. _You did not just say that shit to me._

"Bahk Bahk Bahk." He began as she went from furious to livid. _Three, two, one._

She roared at him trying to send him flying onto his back and only found his strong arms around her. "Put up," he said staring at her with his own eyes boring into her and his chest pressing against hers as she struggled against him, "or shut up, brat."

Her lips crushed his for a brief second in a flash of flushed anger as his hand crept up her back and held her behind her neck. His lips, soft and inviting, coaxed her to relent the angry torture he was being put through and succumb to the erotic teasing he began to arouse her with.

A sigh escaped her as his teasing her lower lip with his drove her to distraction. His strong arms, so calming stilled her struggles as she kissed back, a strange warm feeling running hotter and hotter through her body. When he finally was rewarded by her tasting him, his growl of approval reverberated in both their chests.

When they broke apart, slowly because neither of them wanted the separation, his face, the perfect calm stillness of someone who was in control, began to stare at her triumphantly.

"Now, tell me you can't stand me." He asked.

"You make me so mad."

"But I kiss like a god." He told her smug and very pleased with himself.

A voice interrupted them from the doorway. "If you both are finished, Frannie wants to see you." Layne said rolling his eyes and walking off.

His laughter so welcome after seeing him so affected by their flight made the situation all the more comical and Rafe, standing first, helped up David and both walked towards the med lab, morale definitely more lively then when they sat down.


	24. Frannie, Boys, and Jello

**Frannie, boys and jello.**

**Dedicated to Rose, who needs some Ropper and Frannie fluff.**

* * *

The med lab was dark save for some lights along the wall and a soft light over Frannie's bed. Rafe wanted to see her with her eyes open and was so grateful that she was alive.

"Go, I'll see you down on the observation deck later." David told her as he kissed her forehead.

She walked as quietly as possible towards her bed but Frannie's hoarse voice brought her out of her thoughts. "I'm awake," she croaked, "what took you so long?"

Rafe's eyes hidden by the shades were filled with tears as she looked at her pale face. She still felt so responsible for everything that happened and Frannie, knowing her the way she did knew that instinctively.

"Hey, how you feeling?" she asked taking her hand. "I'd of gotten you flowers but we were in kinda of a hurry."

"Like two really big men stabbed me a bunch of times, after beating the shit out of me." she croaked, trying to smile. "Really, I'm better now. Daniel's been really nice."

"My spies say he likes you." she said smirking.

"He's really cute, not old you know. He's what? 35?" she asked trying to move and wincing.

"Hey don't try and do too much. Trust me, Janis said you were pretty fucked up." she said trying to stop her from moving around.

"I'll be fine. I feel much better already. Really. I can't explain why but I feel stronger." she said as Rafe handed her some jello. "Thanks. Cherry Jello, my favorite...So what's going on with you and David? He looked very 'concerned'."

"Nothing besides he's my shadow, Dad thinks he's my furyan mate, andlately Davidmakes me so mad and horny and confused and drives me so fucken nuts I can't stand it. And smug. OHHH."

"Well," she croaked, "you seem really torn up about the..." she began to cough and wheeze, which alarmed her. "I'm all right. Dr. Janis said this would happen, I'll be fine. Danny is very attentive. I always thought so, since the party at least."

"Uncle Danny can be quite the cutie." Rafe said laughing.

She started to laugh when a familiar voice came from the darkness. "Who can be quite the cutie?"

"No one you know Uncle Danny." Rafe said smiling. "Take care of her, I'm gonna go to bed."

"Someone's waiting for you in the observation deck. See Janis before you go down. She's wanting to check your arm again."

"Good night Uncle Danny." she said walking to the doors, "night, Frannie."

* * *

"How is she?" David asked looking out at the approaching moons around Talos Prime.

"She's looking really bad, but stronger than I thought she'd look. Danny's smitten, as he should be, my best friend is quite the hottie." she told him leaning on the railing beside the large observation window.

"I'm glad you got to spend some time with her. Did you see Janis?" he asked rubbing her shoulder. "You look tired."

"She says my fever is back up. That I have a secondary infection but since I'm already on antibiotics, she'll just adjust the dosage. But I'm feeling kinda sore and tired too. I'm going to find where your Dad assigned me and get to bed."

He escorted her towards the crew deck and back to his room. "No David."

"You belong with me, you'll sleep better with me, you'll see." he said pointing to the room next to the door where her brother lay reading a book. "It's over there. I won't stop you, but don't hate my guts when you wake up with me."

"Ass. Goodnight." she said smacking his arm.

* * *

"Do you need anything?" Danny asked as he took a chair and sat beside her.

"You don't need to stay. I'm okay now. I just got scared when I saw all those tubes and I couldn't breathe." she said slowly and painfully. "I appreciate that."

"Well," he said blushing, "I knew you needed a friend and well, I'm glad I could be there for you."

Dr. Janis arrived to adjust her pain medication and to remind them that Frannie was in stable, but critical condition.

"You feeling all right? Take it easy." Janis told her as she smiled and injected her iv line. "This won't take long to take effect Daniel so try and keep her calm. He's a good nurse isn't he Frannie?"

"Yes, the best." she said sipping some water.

"Good night you two and don't keep her up too long." Janis told Danny who agreed without a second thought.

Once alone, Frannie, living through the worst hell, asked Danny the question that Rafe had kept pestering her about since the night of Rafe's birthday party.

"It's good to feel alive." she told him.

"I've seen worse things happen and people survive. I remember a long time ago when Rafe's mom and dad almost died. Jack especially." he said looking down at the hand he couldn't help but holding. "I'm glad you made it."

"Danny, Rafe says you kinda of have a crush on me." she said blushing too.

"She talks a lot." he said moving to get her some water.

"It's okay. I think you're kinda of sweet." she said looking at him.

"In an old guy sort of way." he said looking down and feeling the "I wanna be just friends speech' coming on.

"No, not exactly. I never thought you were, I mean old." she stammered feeling a spasm coming on. "I mean, my mom and dad are 12 years apart in age so that's kinda normal for me."

"Really?" he said looking up relieved.

"You're kind of cute in a smart guy with a mission sort of thing." she admitted looking away but never taking her hand out of his.

"But what about Layne?" he asked suddenly unsure.

"It was your voice brought me back from the blackness." she told him. "Layne's too much of a playboy for me. He's definitely not my type. I like smart men. Riddick men are very physical. The only smart ones are the women."

She laughed causing herself to cough. He brought a cloth to her face and brushed away some residual blood. "I'll be here for you. If you want me to."

"I do Danny. Really. You're all that I have now. They killed my family." she said her eyes welling up with tears.

"No Frannie, you're more a part of the Riddicks now than ever. We're all a big family. We all stick together. What you did was so brave. We don't forget something like that." he said rubbing her cheek.

"I hope so. My life is in your hands now." she said the drugs pulling at her towards sleep.

"Rest Frannie, I'll be here for you when you wake up." he said kissing her cheek then her forehead.

"One day someday soon, I'm gonna make this up to you." she said her lids closing involuntarily.

"I'll be waiting." he said knowing she was already asleep.


	25. Things that go bump in the night

The darkness that had quickly became a comfort to Rafe suddenly choked her, frightened her so badly that in her terror, she clawed her way through the blinding light of the hallway and towards the only comfort she could ever accept.

The halogen bulbs burned her lenses, sending shards of pain through her nerves and burrowing into her skull. Whimpers of agony escaped her despite her attempts to be quiet and brave, and she cursed herself for looking up.

"Damn it!" she wanted to shout as she shut her eyes against the pain, against the light.

It was only when she started crying and realized that she was blind again, that was she rescued. Someone big took a hold of her and lifted her into his arms and carried her into the welcoming darkness.

Reverting back to old habits, eyes shut so tightly she couldn't relax enough to open them, she used her fingers to confirm what her sense of smell had already told her.

"Are you all right?" a familiar voice asked her. He came along side of her after closing the metal door and pulled her into his lap.

Her racking sobs were an indication that she was far from all right. "Can you talk about it?"

She shook her head back and forth while her hands shook uncontrollably. "It's okay, it was only a dream. Dreams stop when you wake up."

_That's easy for you to say. You haven't seen what I have seen, felt what I feel._

The hair in her eyes was covering some of her face and he ran his fingers through hit so he could wipe away her tears. "Sh. It's okay now."

He sat with her a few moments and waited for her to calm enough to see how much damage she might have done to her lenses. "So," he said looking at her as she tentatively opened her eyes. "still hurt?"

She shook her head yes, "Keep them closed then. I'll get you back to your room."

He attempted to get up and she grabbed his bicep and whimpered an almost inaudible plea. _I can't. _He smiled sadly, realizing the only real reason why she would choose his bed, was she was afraid, not because she might want him, but understood and left it at that. "Leave me some room and wait here while I get you something to numb your lenses. Janis has some drops to help with the pain."

With a hiccup, she said softly, "Okay. Sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, string bean. I'll just say this one time. I just _love_ being right."

If she could open her eyes, he'd see that she was rolling them disgusted. "Ass." She smirked and got under the blankets.

"True, but you love me all the same." He said as he walked out of the room bathing part of his quarters in the harsh light.

Sometime later, he returned and she smelled antiseptic. "Are you awake?"

"Yes." She said in a small whisper.

"Still hurt?" he said sitting next to her. "I've got the drops. You have to trust me. Janis said they burn at first and you'll be blind for a few hours. You don't need to see now anyhow."

"Back to black huh?" she sighed sarcastically. "Just do it. My head's splitting open already."

She sat back against the wall and looked up towards the ceiling and attempted to open them. David, running his fingers through his own hair, bit his lip knowing that the drops were going to be almost as painful as the pain in her head. "You know, next time you feel the need to prove my point, turn out the lights in the hall, they're on voice recognition. "Lights off" would have worked very well."

"You know, if I needed a smart ass I'd have gone to my brother's room, his was right next door." She told him as the first drop hit her cornea. She screamed in pain but remained still. "Fucken hurry David."

He did his best and took out an ampoule that Janis had given him to help ease the stabbing pain in her head. "This is gonna help too." He told her as he shot her up. "I don't want to hear a word Rafe. You know Janis, she doesn't believe in anyone suffering."

He was surprised when she didn't argue. "Lay down." He ordered putting the drops and shooter in the case and sitting next to her.

"I'm cold." She said suddenly freezing.

"It's the meds Rafe." He told her pulling up the blanket. "Go to sleep. I'll be back soon."

She was asleep before he closed the door and clad only in a pair of jeans and an old t-shirt, he padded barefoot towards the med lab to put back his supplies and try and figure out how horrible she still must feel having survived so long.

* * *

David wasn't the only one awake on the ship. Riddick sat on the observation deck in the darkness still shaking from the nightmare that had tore him from Jack's soothing embrace.

_Darkness…_

_Pain…_

_Jack dead… Red…pain…pain…_

_Riddick's choking scream didn't reach his vocal chords as his eyes relived Jack falling to her knees. "Riddick? Oh no…" She said as he saw the deep red stain appear on her chest and the man who had haunted their steps for years stood in the background with a pulse rifle laughing…_

"Hey." A voice said from the door.

Riddick sat in the darkness contemplating the reality of the turn of events in their lives and cursed himself for feeling.

"Couldn't sleep?" he gruffed only his silvery eyes glinting in the blackness.

"Rough night." He answered sitting down and staring out into the deepness of space.

"No fucken kidding." He said sarcastically. "Was that Rafe?"

"Yeah." He said quietly. "She's asleep now. She seared her lenses."

"That's downside of a shine job." He said growling remembering his own pain, especially on T2. "The light can be a mother." _Fucker…_

"She's not happy, I gave her the green drops and dosed her so she could sleep. She's not doing well right now. Remembering everything hasn't been easy." David told him sitting back against the cushions.

"You be there for her. She deserves that. She's not going to be easy to live with. She's like Jack that way. She's as hot as hellfire and just as hard to handle. But keep on her. She'll let you in, just be there." He said looking straight ahead.

"You had a nightmare too?" David asked running his hand wearily over his face.

"I don't want to talk about it." He snapped just as his head went up after hearing a sound coming from the hallway.

A blur of white raced and dove at him so fast he leaned forward and caught the blur before it hurt itself.

"Audrey?" Riddick growled softly. The child was clad in her nightgown and her blonde hair was in two tight braids, disheveled and her eyes were wet with tears. "Hey kid, what's wrong?"

"The bad man is coming." She stuttered sitting so small in his lap. Her bright blue eyes looked to him for confirmation that her dream was real.

"What bad man?" he asked smoothing her dress out so she could sit properly.

"The bad man that tells on me." She said with a hiccup. "He let the other bad men come to kill Ali's momma. He likes to talk to the bad men now… He's scary."

"Which bad man?" Riddick asked looking at David. "What are you talking about?"

Audrey rolled her eyes and looked at him like she was exasperated having to explain herself. "Unka Riddick, I'm talking to you. You need to listen. I saw him. Right here." She said tapping her forehead.

"What else did you see?" he asked looking at David who looked at him just as confused.

"Auntie Jack is gonna have babies." She said very proud of herself. "A boy and a girl. The girl is really pretty, like Rafe but she's got green eyes. And the boy looks like you. Very scary."

No one had had a chance to tell any of the children about Jack so Riddick asked one more thing. "Audrey, close your eyes for me."

"Are we playing a game?" she asked looking at him with her eyes closed.

"Yes squirt we are. Can you tell me what I'm drawing on the glass right now?"

He stood and carried her and he drew a circle. "No peeking."

"Kay!" she said enthusiastically. "Circle."

He drew another one. "Square."

"Well, you are a very good guesser." He told her. "what else did I draw?"

"Dunno, but I see red. Yukky red that makes you sad."

Riddick nearly dropped her then. _Holy shit…._

"Who is this bad man?" he asked her standing her up on the deck. Just then Abdullah walked by checking the corridor and securing any open bulkheads.

Riddick looked down his fists clenched at his sides just as his nose, then his eyes saw her terrified face and the pool of urine at her feet…

"Sasha, red alert." He shouted running barefoot down the hall as David scooped up the small child and ran towards Khalifa and Anne's quarters. _That mother fucker is a dead man…_


	26. The traitor unmasked

Navim Rousseau stood with his back to the door, something that his trusted bodyguard Gerard found irritating. It opened him up to compromising positions, most of them deadly.

He had repeatedly advised him to that effect but something in him lived with the threat like some would do living with a disease, one day at a time.

Gerard concluded that part of him wanted to face death.

Richard B. Riddick would be the man to deliver it if he did not do his job right, and in his vast experience, he had yet to allow that to happen.

"You need rest." He said low and quiet in the background.

"I will rest when I possess her. I will have her, even if you have to kill every single one of them."

It had been days since he had taken a shower, or eaten a healthy meal. Navim didn't care. He wanted to stay in a dreamlike state just to see her.

Cloudless gray eyes, moving in time to the music, rapt, enthralled, pure animal…

Sasha's loud and forceful voice echoed throughout the ship. "Red Alert, Red Alert. Everyone report to the mess immediately. Red Alert. Red Alert…"

Everyone who was able ran towards the mess as if the ship were being attacked. "What the hell is going on?" Jack gasped her long hair askew, dressed in a long flowing blue nightgown and silk robe.

"I don't know." Khalifa said just as surprised. Just then David brought his little sister inside while He held onto Rafe who stumbled leaning on his arm.

"Mother, take her. Something is up. Riddick called for Red Alert."

Sitting on the couch sat Fatima, Janis and the children. Pacing in the background was Vpyer and Malcolm who stood stoically waiting his boss' orders.

Riddick strode in like Hell himself full of rage. Salim and Ali walked in behind him long faced and concerned. Standing by the doors were Layne and David who escorted Rafe to her favorite chair. "Stand down Red Alert Sasha." Riddick ordered.

He paced back and forth until the last member of the crew walked in. "Son of a BITCH." Riddick roared as his fist made hard contact with Abdullah's face. "Hold this mother fucker down."

Layne and David grabbed Abdullah, unconscious and dragged him to a chair while Riddick paced back and forth like a caged animal.

Jack rose and attempted to calm him but saw that he was passed any rational thought. Not even her presence near him helped. She sat back down and waited for the man to calm himself.

"Riddick." She said calmly. "Talk to me."

"Old Man. Wake him up." He ordered looking into his wife's eyes and seeing those hazel eyes attempt to sooth him.

Salim took a bucket of water and splashed the man in the face jarring him awake.

Riddick could smell the fear and saw him looking around warily.

"Riddick, what's happened?" Janis asked standing in the midst of all the crew and family.

Riddick's enraged eyes looked at Audrey who huddled in Anne's arms weeping quietly.

"We have a problem. Someone tipped off the syndicate, and has been for some time. Sasha, run the program."

The audio transmission, deeply imbedded ran its course and Abdullah looked like a scared rabbit as the assembled masses looked at him with a mixture of emotions.

Anne ushered the children realizing that violence was very likely. Rafe staggered towards Abdullah and spat in his face just as the very potent mixture of narcotics caused her to stumble.

David grabbed her and swept her into his arms as her mother kissed her cheek and pleaded with him to take her away.

"You'll talk you son of a bitch, or each one of us will take turns enjoying the shit out of hurting you. And trust me, I'm gonna take my time." Riddick growled low and menacingly.

The last thing Rafe heard as she nuzzled David's neck was the pleading, and then screams from the mess as the sound of pounding flesh filled the empty hallway.

"Come on string bean, back to bed." He said to her sightless silvery eyes.

"How could he?" She asked suddenly feeling very open and raw.

"Yeah."


	27. Somethings changes, others remain the sa...

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed. I hope to be more regular with the updates, look for some mushy action packed smut to follow soon.

Love,

Jack

* * *

"I don't want to go back to sleep, I want to help." She told him. Her eyes were heavy and the pull of the drugs drew her towards the unconscious.

David looked at her fondly, knowing that she wanted to stay awake. "Don't worry, there's enough time for you and I to talk when you wake up."

Her sightless eyes stared at him glowing silver in the darkness. "I don't want to talk."

His eyebrow raised at that comment. "And what do you propose we do? You're in no condition to do anything."

"Don't bet on it David. I'm stronger than you think." She said smiling smugly as her reflexes caught him unaware.

She was on him like lightning striking the ground. Her eyes blinked slowly as he could feel her warm body against him, breasts pressing against the thin layer shirt he was wearing. "Rafe, what's gotten into you?"

"You, in a minute, if you play your cards right." She said slightly slurring. "Life is suddenly too short."

Her hands roamed the expanse of his chest, pulling his shirt free from his jeans. Her finger nails grazed his skin and sent shivers to his knees as parts of him went rigid with attention.

"Rafe, what the hell are you doing?" he asked as her lips grazed his throat.

"Feeling alive, because I'm not sure how long I'll have that luxury."

"You don't want to do it this way." He said trying to push her away. Her persistence wouldn't let him. Her hands, soft and strong to the touch ran through his hair and wore away any resistance he had. "Rafe." He whined as her lips touched the lower lobe of his ear. "Baby don't, you'll hate yourself in the morning. This is the drugs talking, not you."

With a strength he wasn't expecting, she straddled him her silvery eyes boring into him. "I want this, I need this, to feel alive. You can't know what it's like to think you're gonna die every minute of the day. Touch me David. Do that for me."

He debated that. She was wanting to stop feeling numb. He wanted her so badly but knew that it could all go to shit fast. "Not this way baby. Not this way."

"You don't want me." She said nearly crying.

"The hell I don't." he said a little louder than he wanted to. He moved his hands slowly down her torso and rested on the cheeks of her firm backside. "I've wanted you for a VERY long time."

"Then what's the problem?" she asked because she looked down at him like an animal in the dark.

"You're wanting me for the wrong reasons." He told her sitting her up.

"I don't understand." She said as he pulled her gently against him.

"If we do this now, it's all about mechanics. Not about feelings, and I know females, Furyans especially, are very emotional. You'll hate me in the morning and then it'll all be fucked and I don't want that. You hating me **is not** an option, but you hating yourself is worse. I couldn't live with myself if I let you let me…you know."

She began to cry. He hated that worse than anything else.

"Don't cry." He said kissing her cheek and moving his hand from her face to her throat and laid her down on her back. "Sh. I know you hurt. We all do, I trusted him just as much as any of us. Go to sleep." He said with all the restraint he could muster.

She turned to the wall and went to sleep her breathing erratic and his heart slamming inside his chest. God, help him if he couldn't keep his hands to himself.

* * *

Jack stood in the background, her hands fisted at her sides. Nothing but rage flowed throughout the room and she wanted in on the action. Only Janis' voice stopped the rage within her.

"You've done enough, all of you. This will not bring back my son, or my daughter in law."

Riddick stood with his back to her and glared at her as he turned in her direction. "But I feel better."

No one argued with him no matter what. They knew better. "Fix him up, I want him talking in an hour."

"Don't presume to order me Riddick. This man is still human and you will not treat him like an animal."

His eyes glared at her and he growled his hand still bloody from beating Abdullah to a pulp.

Salim came to his wife's rescue. Riddick was still to upset to think rationally.

Jack walked slowly, quietly towards her husband and stood silently next to him. Putting a calming arm on his she led him from the mess and down towards the suite that they shared and did not speak.

"Sh." She said quietly as he sat on the edge of the counter in their large bathroom. "Lights 10."

"You could've been the ones who got ghosted, not Janis' kids." He gruffed, growling quietly. She knew that he was so enraged and that his control was worn very thin.

"I know, but we're all still alive."

Thoughts of violence, red and the smell of blood washed over him like a harsh dry wind, scraping his skin, his eyes and ever part that was exposed to the air. "Riddick." She said louder pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah Jack." He croaked his throat tight with the pain of unshed emotion.

"Talk to me."

"Fuck Jack, it's all going down and I can't stop it." He admitted as she took his hands into hers and washed them.

The scent of her soap, the feel of her soft skin in his hands, made him inhale. "Breathe baby. One breath at a time."

She heard him inhale and exhale. "They're never gonna let us alone. Should've know it was just a dream."

She wiped the splatters of his arms and chest and watched as he closed his eyes and purred. She knew that he was a junkie for her touch and didn't disappoint him. "Damn Jack. That feels good."

"I know what you like." She said coming perilously close to his ear.

"Mm. I know you do." He crooned a sly smile gracing his face. "I love you Jack."

"Me too big guy. Stop beating yourself up over this, and I think Janis is right, killing Abdullah won't bring Janis' kids back." She said as he pulled her against him.

"Mmm. You smell good enough to eat." He said nipping at her ear.

"Bon appetite." She said laughing as he carried her out and into the welcoming darkness.

XXX


	28. Aftermath, the calm comes quiet

**To those who have emailed, thanks for the faith. I've been supporting my entire family. It's been rough but I now have time to get back on the bandwagon.**

**To my fans. Love you. Big bunches**

**Now, onto the show.**

**I know it's short but I'm rereading just like you to get in the mood. Naughtiness will abound when they all realize how mortal they are...**

**Next, the return of Audrey :) and Unka Riddick**

* * *

Janis stood over Abdullah, numb. She knew her Hippocratic oath was one that was without question but she never in her life regretted taking it, until now. She let Sasha's diagnostic blue light wash over his unconscious body and waited for the results.

Her heart was beating with the flutter of someone conflicted. Part of her embraced the violence, the other reviled it. Her face inscrutable, she stared at the screen watching the erratic pulse and labored breathing.

She sighed, Riddick had beat him half to death, just as she knew he would.

Guilt riddled her because she knew she could have stopped it, but part of her wanted him to…

"Level three contusions to his upper left jaw, hairline fracture of both the nose and mandible. He won't be doing any talking for the foreseeable future. Herniated right pupil, elevated blood pressure, my recommendation, let him suffer."

"Sasha, you seem more sentient with every coming year. Is he conscious?" Janis asked looking at the ragged bloody mess on the table.

"It appears he might be." Jack's voice said from behind her. "I would bet he's listening to our every word."

"Jack, you should be resting. There is nothing _here_ you need to see. I have to clean up and stitch what Riddick did earlier."

"I'll help. Maybe we can learn something." She said quietly. Janis watched her tie her hair back and wash her hand at the sink.

"I wouldn't think so. Riddick, the big lug, broke his jaw." Sasha said with a fondness that sometimes had Jack wondering…

Jack stalked around the table two or three times before she spoke low and in the man's ear.

"Abdullah, you're alive and you'd better be thankful. If you were anyone else, I'd of let my husband kill you, and wouldn't have blinked an eye." Jack told him leaning close. "If I even think you're going to betray us again, I'll slit your throat myself."

The one eye that wasn't completely shut blinked nervously. Evidently he had heard and understood the obvious threat, his throat swallowing shallowly.

* * *

While the women took care of the traitor, Riddick slept. He didn't dream. He slept the sleep of the exhausted, the weary and he hated succumbing to it.

Salim meditated quietly grieving silently as he had always done. Violence never had a place in his heart although he knew when it was useful.

Vyper and Malcolm went through the hard drive and removed whatever bugs they could without Jack's expertise.

Ali sat silently in the observatory barely moving, rage so volatile that one wrong word would have induced him to murder. He knew only hate and Sasha, while helping Jack and Janis tend to the traitor kept track of his every movement.

She deduced he was as unstable as any of them. But he no longer had anything to lose, except maybe the girl, who he genuinely appeared fond of.

* * *

David laid in the darkness wishing that the circumstances were different, but he knew Rafe and she'd want to kill him, and he'd have to deal with Riddick who was already ready to blow.

Her deep breathing gave him a way to relax. She was calming him and didn't even realize it.

He knew two things.

To protect her at all costs, and also to be the only man to ever touch her.


	29. Chapter 29

It took a week for everyone to calm down. Everyone, save the children had been to see the traitor, if not to leer, to just ask why. Riddick, in the end, forbade anyone without medical training to speak with him.

No one mentioned him after that, or the fact that within three days of the betrayal and with Jack's expert help, they found encrypted transmissions from two different sources.

"He was playing the two against each other." Khalifa told Jack. He stood at the weapons console and adjusted the instruments.

"I think he was working them both, to see who'd pay the most. The** son of a bitch**." Jack spat rubbing her back. Her long deep burnished curls were pinned up and she sat at the mainframe trying to undo all the virus' and other snags her devoted bodyguard had put up to thwart their escape.

"Oooh! Auntie Jack! You said a bad word." Little Audrey said in her melodic sing-song voice. "I _know_ that's a bad word."

"I'm sorry little bit. It sure is." Jack said smiling. She'd forgotten how the child would repeat everything that came out of their mouths.

"Can we trace them?" Riddick asked sitting in the co-pilot's chair charting their next star jump. They couldn't stay anywhere in the system. It was too hot for them anywhere except out of the system.

Audrey sat as animated as a near four year old could be. "Unka Riddick, this is so COOL!" she announced looking at the console.

Suddenly, her eyes seemed to lose focus and Riddick felt an immediate change in the air, the room seemed warmer, and he watched while his pet, his little version of Jack start to twitch. And he didn't like it one bit.

"Uh...uh…uh…" she stammered.

"Squirt?" Riddick asked putting the chart down. His voice was unusually soft and everyone stopped what they were doing. He felt her breathing change, smelt her fear.

She mumbled. Even Jack stopped what she was doing and walked towards her. Khalifa, as close as he could be to her at the weapons console, stood and came near her trying to figure out what was going on.

He was confused. He hadn't seen it coming. "Precious, what's wrong?"

"Uh...uh…uh…" she muttered, eyes unblinking, her feet twitching in the seat. Her face was pale and sweaty and she looked terrified.

Khalifa shrugged his shoulders unable to determine what had happened. "What's wrong sweetheart? Talk to me…"

She wouldn't respond to her own father. Her deep black eyes welled with tears and she began to shake. Khalifa unnerved at his own helplessness looked to Riddick. If anyone could get to her to speak, it was him.

Riddick stood dressed in black combat pants, a black long sleeve mech shirt. He looked strong, menacing and no your big softie type. But with Audrey, he was as docile as a lamb.

"Half pint." He said louder.

"Unka---unka…" she stammered her eyes betraying a sadness and fear that Riddick would have fought the universe to stop.

Her pale blue dress shook as she held onto the armrests as if her life depended on it.

"Yeah kid it's me. What's wrong?" He asked looking to Jack. Her encouragement was what he needed.

"Go…she trusts you." She mouthed leaning against the chair rubbing her belly.

"Bad man…Bad…very bad…" she said in a quiet far away voice.

"What bad man squirt?" he asked kneeling in front of her.

"The one with the pictures." She said looking trustingly at Riddick holding her arms.

"What about the man with the pictures?" he asked looking at her father.

_Rousseau…. That son of a bitch…._

"He's mad… super bad mad…." She said hiccupping.

"Why?" Jack asked softly.

"You took away Rafe. He wants her awful bad. He wants her awful bad cause she's so pretty. I don't want to be pretty cause he wants to…" she said breaking completely down.

Riddick had an idea what Rousseau wanted to do to his daughter. And for that little girl to have to seethat made him so angry that he almost punched the bulkhead. "Don't be m-mad Unka Riddick. He's crazy. He's a stupid crazy man. He's gonna be so mad soon."

"Why?" he said trying to calm down, she need him to stay calm "How do you figure that?"

"Cause you're way smarter than he is and you can kick his butt just like that." She said trying to snap her fingers. "You're a whole lot bigger and meaner than he is."

"That's right half pint." He said lowering his head and thanking God that she believed in him just like the rest. He loved that little girl like she were his own. She propelled herself into his arms and he lifted her and swung her around.

Everyone laughed. "Unka Riddick?"

"Yeah?" he chuckled.

Her face lost her smile. "He's gonna be real mean to Rafe. He'll hurt her on purpose and make her sleepy with funny smelling stuff and..." She stammered.

Rage welled up within him "What?"

"He'll touch her you know." She said looking down at the floor. "Down there…"

"No he won't! I'll kill him." He growled loudly and held her closer.

He stroked her hair and she opened her eyes again as he walked toward the door. Jack and Khalifa looked up at the same time watching a serene look cross her face. "Yes you will." She said smiling, a demonically evil smile that scared the hell out of both of them. "Yes you will."

She jumped down and ran away as if admitting that was something bad. But her laughter was so welcome they let it go. Riddick was her hero. Jack saw that and felt the same, thinking that he knew she felt it just like the rest of them.

"What do you think she meant by that?" Khalifa asked sitting back down and trying to figure out what just happened.

"How do you think we found about Abdullah? She did that. David watched." Riddick said sitting back down.

"What are you talking about?" he asked his brother.

"You're daughter is a seer." Salim said carrying her in his arms.

"No. I won't believe it."

"It is true my son. It is. She has shown me several times indications pointing towards it. She has proven many things true. Plus you have tested her haven't you Riddick?" he said playing with her in his arms.

"It's true Khal." He told him putting his arms around Jack. "She knew things she had no way of knowing."

He patted her belly, by human standards would have been at 5 months gestation. "She _**knew**_."

"Allah be merciful." He stammered.

Salim took her by the hand and walked her out of the room and towards the gym where he would instruct her on proper meditation and allow her to rest.

"I didn't know." He muttered. "I just didn't know."


	30. Chapter 30

To All my fans and those who love Riddick and Jack's adventures

I** AM BACK.**

Be patient, Rafe will find out the real reason for her sister's death, Layne will find his furyan mate. There will be extensive ass kicking and naughtiness.

Rafe is in trouble. And it will take the entire Riddick family to save her!

Email me often I need all your input.

It's time to get down to business.

Bring it on.

Madame Hardy


	31. Chapter 31

Ben Burnley and Breaking Benjamin are their own and I only and most reverently play homage to them.

Thanks to all my fans.

David the great gets his finally.

David, in an attempt to relax Rafe, turned on music. Within minutes she was deep into sleep. The feel of her against him, the breath on his neck felt like small kisses as he drifted off to sleep himself.

A small cry escaped Rafe's lips as her dreams pulled her down.

"Tell me you love me." a familiar voice said from behind her.

"No." she said her flesh suddenly cold.

"Tell me you love me or I will kill him." Rousseau said sick with hatred.

"No." she said stoically. "I won't. You sick fuck."

A gun went off blowing David's beautiful face. "I will have you. No one will have you but me."

She struggled with the blankets as David grabbed her holding her tightly. "Sh…. Sh…." He said softly stroking her back and neck. Her purr beckoned to his animal playfully. His breath stopped suddenly as he realized all too quickly as the music played in the background that his control would fail him miserably.

_if I had to  
I would put myself right beside you  
so let me ask  
would you like that?  
would you like that?_

_and I don't mind  
if you say this love is the last time  
so now I'll ask  
do you like that?  
do you like that?_

_no  
_

She found her way up to his face, looking into his eyes. Reality was that he was alive. Keep him alive she thought… When his eyes looked down into hers a powerful desire came over her. No words, nothing but the two of them. Both sat up all the while the music soaked up the silence.

_something's getting in the way  
something's just about to break  
I will try to find my place in the diary of Jane  
so tell me how it should be_

_try to find out what makes you tick  
as I lie down  
sore and sick  
do you like that?  
do you like that?_

_there's a fine line between love and hate  
and I don't mind  
just let me say that I like that  
I like that  
_

Rafe shook as she lifted his shirt off. He saw her trying to keep her breathing even and caressed her face following the hollow of her neck, the pulse and pulled of her shirt his eyes never leaving her face.

_something's getting in the way  
something's just about to break  
I will try to find my place in the diary of Jane  
as I burn another page  
as I look the other way  
I still try to find my place in the diary of Jane  
so tell me how it should be  
_

Rafe let her hair down and took his hand and kissed the palm looking into his fathomless eyes. As the rhythm of the music overtook them she smiled, as she pulled herself into his lap. She ran her hands down his perfect eyes and began kissing his cheek working her way down to his lips. Desperately, his hands ran down her back sending shivers down her arms outstretched arching against him as his moans of approval escaped his lips.

_desperate, I will crawl  
waiting for so long  
no love, there is no love  
die for anyone  
what have I become  
_

Her kisses were like heaven and she was like a fever, overtaking his will. His animal nature took over, the beast growling loudly His mouth trailed kisses down her neck, her shoulder, while she ran her fingers through his hair.

_something's getting in the way  
something's just about to break  
I will try to find my place in the diary of Jane  
as I burn another page  
as I look the other way  
I still try to find my place in the diary of Jane  
_

He stopped suddenly very aware where this was headed. "Rafe…" he said desperately trying to hold himself in check.

"Love me David, before I can't stand it. I need," she said pulling her head back. "I crave you. Please…"

Immediately his mouth was on hers in a desperate dance. His hands ran down her back sending chills down her pooling deep inside her. Rafe felt his lips on her skin like a junkie surrendering to the high. Roughly David grabbed her throwing her onto her back raining kisses down her neck to the object of many of his frustrated dreams.

"Rafe…" he growled as her fingers ran threw his hair guiding him.

He leaned up looking up at her in the dimness of his quarters. She looked better than he had imagined she would. Her hands reached for his as his lips came down upon hers with a penetrative possessive kiss. She melted against him while his hands, rough and searching, touched her skin, running down her neck between the valley of her breasts, then he pushed himself aside pulling off her clothing, as she pulled at his.

_You're so cold  
Keep your hand in mine  
Wise men wonder while strong men die_

_Show me how it ends, It's alright  
Show me how defenseless you really are  
Satisfied and empty inside  
Well that's alright  
Let's give this another try  
_

Trailing kisses down her chest, he looked seeing that her harden nipples were delicate rosebuds he wanted nothing more than to take those orbs and suckle them with his tongue."

"Whatever…do…don't...stop…" she gasped moaning his name.

To David, it sounded like a prayer. "Do you like that?" he managed to say between his lips licking her nipple slowly.

"Yes." She growled frustrated as the music flooded their ears. Barely able to utter a single word Rafe found enough control to help him out of his jeans marveling at his chiseled chest and arms.

"I wanted this for so long.." he moaned as she traced a line towards his most anguish part of him.

_If you find your family  
Don't you cry  
In this land of make believe  
Dead and dry  
You're so cold  
but you feel alive  
Lay your hand on me  
One last time  
_

His plea was so unguarded. Suddenly she needed to feel his skin against hers, and let him extinguish the fire that pooled deep inside her. She ached and arched against him breathing hard against his neck moaning his name.

_Show me how it ends, It's alright  
Show me how defenseless you really are  
Satisfied and empty inside  
Well that's alright  
Let's give this another try_

_Show me how it ends, It's alright  
Show me how defenseless you really are  
Satisfied and empty inside  
Well that's alright  
Let's give this another try  
_

A growl of approval was all he needed to hear. Roughly he kissed her throat, lifting her onto his waiting arousal. The pain of her breaching was nothing compared to heat inside her and she knew that the only one to put it out was David.

David.. the only one who loved her, the one who stood by her.

She stopped doubting herself, thinking that her heart and what inside her was a liability. As they moved in time together, she forgot the mounting fear of Rousseau and his men, the fact they were on the run, like her mother and father and that she was the only one that could stop him.

They said nothing, communicating only by touch and breath until they reached that pinnacle of the race towards oblivion.

_Show me how it ends, It's alright  
Show me how defenseless you really are  
Satisfied and empty inside  
Well that's alright  
Let's give this another try_

_Show me how it ends, It's alright  
Show me how defenseless you really are  
Satisfied and empty inside_

_Well that's alright  
Let's give this another try…………..__  
_


	32. Riddick's ray of sunshine

Despite the fact that Riddick had slept well, or the fact that he had coffee and been to the gym, be was surlier than usual. Knowing that his little girl wasn't a little girl anymore grated on his nerves.

"Hitting the heavy bag until it breaks won't make you feel any better Riddick." Jack said walking silently in the gym.

He did what he knew best. He growled and gave her a death glare.

"Aw baby are you flirting with me?" she taunted. "Cause you growl any louder we might need to take this discussion elsewhere."

"Shut it Jack. I don't need you getting on my fucken case." He snapped.

"I was not much older than she is when we had our little run for the hills. And," she said moving beside him and caressing his arm. "We didn't play by the rules. She's got to grow up sometime."

He growled again hitting the heavy bag. "Damn baby, you're starting to turn me on."

"Don't make me…" he said his goggles so close she could see her reflection in them.

"I never have. I love you tough guy. You always knew this day," she said wincing. The pain dropped to her knees and she cried out in pain.

Scooping Jack up in his arms Riddick held it together long enough to get her to the med lab before losing it all as she screamed in pain.

"Sasha, get the doc in here in a hurry." He bellowed putting her on the table and wishing for dear life that his wife and babies weren't gonna die.


	33. Chapter 33

"I don't know what you did but damn—" Layne laughed watching David slam the door and walk head down towards the gym. "Hwy WTF!"" he yelped as Riddick slapped the back of his son's newly shaved head.

"I would shut the fuck up, runt." His father growled.

"Can't you smell him? Poor guy!" he whined sarcastically rubbing the back of his head.

"I said shut…the..fuck…up." Layne heard the growl go quiet.

Critical mass had been achieved—he knew better than to test the fates.

Fuck with Dad and get thrown a beating….

By the time Rafe entered the mess, David, Layne and Riddick were ready for a stitches and a little TLC. David walked passed her without a backward glance spitting blood. Rafe was having none of that.

"Who's bright idea was it to beat his ass? Was it you dad?"

"Princess, he gave as good as he got. So stop blaming---"

"Whatever." She said the silver glint in her eyes cold and menacing. She grabbed a bottle of water and stormed out of the mess as angry as her eyes could portray.

"You should remember that face." Jack said coming down the corridor.

Both Riddick and Layne looked confused. Jack, holding a towel and a bottle of water, kissed Riddick on the cheek and hummed her own version of "Happy Birthday."

The light-bulb of recognition in Riddick caused an almost inaudible groan of frustration. "Keep swinging those hips Princess and I'll give you Happy Birthday." He bellowed laughing in his toe-curdling sexy voice.

"Promises, promises." She sang never missing a beat.

"I need a fucking woman…" her son groaned only to have his father laugh louder.

"Sounds like a personal problem to me." He replied back humming what Layne could have sworn was 'happy birthday….'


End file.
